Wicker relieved after bronze
Exhausted diligence fights its way to biathlon silver
03/08/2022 06:28 am
The German flag bearer Martin Fleig wins his first medal at the Paralympics in Beijing. However, the biathlete has to fight hard for silver because he runs out of breath on the last lap. But then he resorts to an emotional trick.
The biathletes Martin Fleig and Anja Wicker caused a double strike for Germany at the Paralympic Games in Beijing. First, Sochi winner Wicker won bronze in the women’s sitting class over the middle distance of 10 kilometers, before flag-bearer Fleig even won silver in the men’s starting class just 25 minutes later.
After two shooting errors, Fleig was only beaten by the Chinese Liu Mengtao in the first attempt, ultimately missing 47.9 seconds to victory. “I’m super happy. Half of the medal belongs to my wife at home. She always gives me a lot of support,” said the man from Freiburg: “I ran out of breath on the last lap and then I just thought about her.” After the triumph over the long distance in Pyeongchang in 2018, it was his second medal at the Paralympics.
World champion Wicker completed her set of medals at the Winter Games with bronze, having already won gold and silver in Sochi in 2014. “It’s very relieving. I had hoped in advance that it would be enough for the podium – especially after the good World Cup,” said Wicker: “I noticed from the first meter that it’s how it should be. Then do it it was more fun and then the hope was immediately there.”
In spring-like temperatures in Zhangjiakou, the 30-year-old from Stuttgart showed a strong performance, especially in terms of running, and was able to compensate for her five penalty loops. The American Kendall Gretsch, who won with just one penalty, was 2:33.0 minutes short. In the first biathlon competition in Beijing, both Fleig and Wicker, who finished fifth, just missed out on a medal.