Biathlon history made
Doll races to the final relay podium of his career
March 8, 2024, 10:30 p.m
One last season, one last time on the podium: Biathlete Benedikt Doll took third place with the German quartet in the US Soldier Hollow before ending his career. Doll is once again writing a new chapter in his biathlon history.
After his feat, Benedikt Doll celebrated with his teammates in the finish area; the Black Forest native couldn’t get the big grin off his face. In the last season of his career, the 33-year-old reached third place in Soldier Hollow with Justus Strelow, Johannes Kühn and Philipp Nawrath – and wrote a little bit of personal biathlon history: For the first time in his career, Doll remained without a spare in a relay.
“I only had one goal in the race: shooting cleanly. I’m very happy about that,” said Doll on the ARD microphone, before he took a small dig at his former teammates Arnd Peiffer and Erik Lesser, now working as TV experts , couldn’t help but say: “I wanted to prove it to Arnd and Erik again.”
Doll “didn’t feel good at all” on the cross-country ski trail. You start running, “it goes and goes – and suddenly the man with the hammer comes and you stop,” said the 33-year-old. Nevertheless, overall it was “pretty good”.
Victory once again went to the dominant Norwegians – despite a major false start from Sturla Holm Lägreid, who incurred three penalties in the standing stage. But the brothers Tarjei and Johannes Thingnes Bö as well as Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen secured their fifth success in the fifth World Cup race; at the World Cup, of all places, they had “weakened” with second place. Italy secured second place in Soldier Hollow in the final sprint ahead of the German team.
Biathletes are following suit
Due to the time difference of eight hours in the direction of Soldier Hollow, the biathletes started the 4×7.5 kilometer race at prime time in Germany. “We want to attack the front again in the relays,” emphasized DSV sports director Felix Bitterling before the difficult task at an altitude of 1,800 meters.
In bright sunshine, Germany’s best shooter, Strelow, got started. With two spares, the 27-year-old kept his team fully in the fight for the podium. On the route, Strelow couldn’t quite keep up with the pace at the front; he sent Kühn onto the trail 16.1 seconds behind. With another three spares, Germany remained close to the podium, and Doll went into his final season in fourth place together with dominator Johannes Thingnes Bö. The Black Forester couldn’t keep up with the Norwegian, but Germany remained in the first chasing group without making any mistakes. Nawrath lost out in a duel with the Italian Lukas Hofer.
From 11 p.m. the women will start the World Cup in the US state of Utah with their 7.5 kilometer sprint. The biathletes’ relay (8.25 p.m.) and the men’s sprint race (11 p.m./all ARD and Eurosport) follow on Saturday, before the respective pursuits are on the program on Sunday. The season finale will take place in Canmore, Canada, from March 14th to 17th.