Biathlon festival atmosphere in Oberhof
Men storm onto the podium, women shoot poorly
January 7, 2024, 5:27 p.m
In the fog of Oberhof, the German biathlon men keep their perspective: in the relay, only the outstanding Norwegians are stronger. The women’s quartet, on the other hand, experienced a disappointing competition. Three penalties prevented a top result.
The four German musketeers shouted their joy to the sound of the party hit “The train has no brakes”, and there was no stopping in the sold-out arena on Rennsteig: the biathlon party in Oberhof reached its crowning conclusion with the men’s relay. Led by sprint winner Benedikt Doll, the quartet came second in the fog, and even the disappointing fifth place for the women led by Franziska Preuß hardly dampened the mood.
“Here in front of the backdrop in Oberhof, it’s memorable and a great success,” said Philipp Nawrath. Such a conclusion to the home World Cup puts us in a “really good mood,” enthused Doll: “I draw a very, very good conclusion.” The team had to be “satisfied with second place, the Norwegians were simply stronger,” added coach Uros Velepec: “But you could see that we can fight for victories.”
Franziska Preuß (left) and Sophia Schneider had to go into the penalty loop a total of three times.
(Photo: dpa)
The women did not provide this proof. Vanessa Voigt, Janina Hettich-Walz, Sophia Schneider and Preuß missed the podium by almost four minutes after 15 spare rounds and three penalties over 4×6 kilometers. “Unfortunately the prone shooting was messed up. I didn’t know where I was shooting and couldn’t judge the wind well,” said Schneider after her penalty loop on ARD. Preuß even did two extra laps while standing for the French women’s first win of the season.
“When it’s windy you have to risk more”
The German men coped better with the difficult conditions. “Real Oberhof weather – difficult to run and shooting is an art,” said starting runner Roman Rees. Rees, Doll, Nawrath and final runner Philipp Horn needed the maximum of twelve spare rounds while standing, Nawrath even had to go into the penalty loop again. Despite a temporary lead, there was ultimately a gap of 2:01.9 minutes over the dominant Norwegians.
“A little bit is missing,” said Doll: “But that was again at the shooting range, we’re doing well in terms of running. We’ll keep going. We’ll take the chance if they make a mistake.” Velepec struggled with Rees and Horn for the ninth relay podium in a row. The two were “doing a bit too old-fashioned biathlon and shooting too slowly,” said the Slovenian critically: “In windy conditions you have to risk more and work faster.”
Unlike the day before, it was much more wintery on the stretches along the Grenzadler. The wind caused freezing temperatures and made it easier for the organizers, who had recently faced major challenges due to the heavy rainfall, to prepare the cross-country trails. This is how the big goal was achieved. “We managed to hold all six competitions,” said the head of the organizing committee, Bernd Wernicke. However, it is not yet possible to predict to what extent the greater effort due to the weather situation will be reflected in the balance sheet.
In the coming season, the elite ski hunters will be guests in Oberhof a week later. This scheduling could help to avoid the increasingly frequent lack of snow at the beginning of the year. “The first week of January is simply not popular. It’s about discussing a lot of things. But this location is a classic in the racing calendar and it must be given due consideration,” demanded DSV President Franz Steinle.