Weakened squadron surprised
German biathletes seal the best start to the season in a long time
November 30, 2023, 5:49 p.m
After complicated years, especially for the men, things are going great for the German biathlon team at the start of the new season: after six races, there are already six podium places in the statistics. This means the best start to the season since 2015.
Even without the slightly injured Roman Rees and Justus Strelow, the German biathletes fought for another podium place by finishing third in the first relay race of the season. David Zobel, Philipp Nawrath, Benedikt Doll and Johannes Kühn had one penalty and 16 spare rounds in Östersund, Sweden. Favorite Norway secured victory ahead of France. The German quartet was 50.5 seconds behind the Scandinavians at the finish after 4 x 7.5 kilometers.
For the German team it was already the sixth podium finish in the sixth race at the first stop of the season – things last went this well eight years ago at the start of the 2015/2016 season. The men were in second place for a long time, but shot runner Kühn had to go into the penalty loop after the last shooting.
Overall World Cup leader Rees and individual runner-up Strelow had to withdraw at short notice due to infection symptoms. After the nomination the day before, a relay race was no longer an option, “in order not to endanger the following competitions,” as team doctor Jan Wüstenfeld said.
“Already running well”
In Östersund, which was icy cold at minus nine degrees Celsius, the DSV quartet used a total of 16 spare rounds and had to give way to world champions France in the final behind the dominant Norwegians. “Our substitute runners weren’t really substitute runners, they can just as easily get involved. It was nice to reach third place, if you look at the spares, that was anything but a brilliant performance. But in terms of running, we were doing pretty well “, said Doll on ZDF.
The next race for the men’s sprint is on Saturday. In this competition, Rees would compete in the yellow jersey for the first time in his career if he gets fit again in time.