No biathlon party in Oberhof
“Stupidity” and lack of strength slow down DSV stars
January 6, 2024, 4:14 p.m
After brilliant sprint results, the German biathletes in Oberhof were unable to reach for victory in the pursuit. Benedikt Doll doesn’t even look for excuses and Franziska Preuß also experiences annoying things.
Benedikt Doll dampened the mood with his persistent chase blues, and even the completely exhausted Franziska Preuß couldn’t heat up the mood at the sold-out Rennsteig. The German biathletes lost their way to success in the hunting races in Oberhof. Preuss, who started second, fell back to seventh place when the rain began to fall, while sprint winner Doll had to settle for twelfth place after numerous shooting mistakes.
“I didn’t have the best skis, it was almost impossible to glide,” Preuß complained on ARD: “That’s why there were problems from the first lap onwards. Seventh place is okay, but with the starting position I hoped for more.” Despite the weaknesses on the track, the podium was within reach until the end, but a mistake in the last shot and a collapse on the final lap cost places. “The last one was unnecessary and not handled properly,” explained the Bavarian: “That was annoying.”
Doll (+1:28.9 minutes) needed consolation from his teammates after his pursuer was once again weak; five mistakes in prone left him hopelessly behind. “It doesn’t have much to do with bad luck. That was maximum stupidity,” complained the 33-year-old: “All of the mistakes were on the right, technically just bad. It annoys me because it wasn’t necessary. I had no stress or tension . It was déjà vu.” ARD expert Erik Lesser complained about “unacceptable” prone shooting.
Norway’s men achieve fivefold success
Doll had already started first in Lenzerheide and fell back to 17th place in the chase race with seven penalties. In general, the German biathletes are weak in the pursuits this season; despite three sprint successes, there was only one podium place. “The Norwegians are a bit stronger in duel shooting,” complained Doll: “We try to take part, but it’s difficult. We don’t always succeed.”
The best DSV ski hunter was Johannes Kühn (2 penalties/+1:00.7 minutes) in eighth place in the Norwegian five-fold victory led by premiere winner Endre Strömsheim. “I couldn’t do much forward, I can’t blame myself,” said Kühn: “It was a good race, but the others were even better.” Only Philipp Horn (3/+1:45.5) was able to move up eleven places from the sextet to 13th place.
Even the women couldn’t quite match their top form from the previous weeks when Frenchwoman Julia Simon won. Janina Hettich-Walz (2 penalties/+1:31.0 minutes) fell six places to eleventh place over the ten kilometers. Sophia Schneider (1/+1:42.1) improved to 14th place, Vanessa Voigt (1/+2:36.8) fell five places to 18th place despite a good shooting performance due to a fall.
The first seasons of the new year are on Sunday (11:30 a.m. and 2:25 p.m./ARD and Eurosport). The men want to continue their podium streak with third podium finish in the third race. “That’s always the goal,” said Kühn. The women are looking for redemption after Hochfilzen’s fifth place finish. From Wednesday the second home World Cup will continue in Ruhpolding, where the two relays will start right away.