Trembling at the biathlon shooting range: The "sewing machine" reveals the victory

Trembling at the biathlon shooting range
The "sewing machine" rattles victory

Biathletes give everything on the trail. But shooting is also part of the competition. Getting your pulse under control then decides whether you win or lose. Sometimes the only thing that helps is to pick up your bag of tricks to save the World Cup dress rehearsal.

When Franziska Preuss got the tremor at the last shooting, only the tips from Olympic champion Sven Fischer prevented the total failure. "I went into the supine position and squat. But I still couldn't start because it was too shaky," said Preuss, somewhat contrite after the second place in the German biathlon relay at the World Cup dress rehearsal.

The last runner from Ruhpolding gave up the second relay victory in a row at the last shooting in Antholz – and was annoyed by the uncontrolled wobbling at the shooting range. The 26-year-old had solved it with just one spare "quite well, but it's stupid that the 'sewing machine' 'has come," she said on ZDF. Sewing machine means that the legs or even the whole body are shaking because of the high exertion of the body. A phenomenon that cyclists are also familiar with.

Nevertheless, the DSV quartet around Vanessa Hinz, Janina Hettich, Denise Herrmann and Preuss gained a lot of self-confidence for the medal hunt in Pokljuka (February 10th to 21st) with an excellent performance. "I am extremely satisfied with the girls' results, they all did a really good job," said Mehringer.

In the end, the Russian team was just eleven seconds short of the third podium in the fourth race this winter. The hit rate at the shooting range in particular gave rise to confidence just four weeks before the World Cup races. "We were really strong with six spare rounds, it was a perfect race for us," said Mehringer.

Especially for Herrmann it was the hoped-for sense of achievement after the disappointments in the individual as well as the mass start with positions 17 and 26. "Let's hope we can take the momentum to Pokljuka with us," said the 32-year-old, who needed three spare rounds: "I still have room for improvement."

. (tagsToTranslate) Sport (t) Biathlon (t) World Championships