biathlon
DSV women third in the relay – Norway wins
Was third with the DSV relay in Östersund: Franziska Preuß. photo
© Pontus Lundahl/TT News Agency/AP/dpa
In the first relay race of the new biathlon winter, the German ski hunters deliver again. Only two teams are better. A 19-year-old makes a good debut.
Ran with a smile Franziska Preuß crossed the finish line in the snow-covered Östersund and celebrated her next success with her teammates.
The German biathletes confirmed their strong start to the season with third place in the first World Cup relay. Janina Hettich-Walz, Selina Grotian, Vanessa Voigt and Franziska Preuß only used four spares on Wednesday in Östersund, Sweden and after 4 x 6 kilometers only had to give way to the victorious Norwegians and Swedes – it was already the third podium finish in the still young World Cup -Winters.
In the individual on Sunday, Preuß came in second and Voigt in third place provided the first signs of respect after the retirement of Olympic champion and world champion Denise Herrmann-Wick.
“It was very hard”
“It was very hard, the conditions were extremely slow. I struggled through it and I’m overall satisfied,” said Preuß on ZDF. After the last shooting, she went into the final round at the same time as the Swede Hanna Öberg, who had a penalty, but had no chance against the Olympic and world champion. “Hanna Öberg is just Hanna Öberg. I was already aware that I was currently losing out,” said the 29-year-old after her strong performance. In the end, Germany was 47.9 seconds short of the top and 6.3 seconds short of second place.
In frosty central Sweden, Hettich-Walz (27) started the standing stage under floodlights with only one spare round and handed over to relay debutant Grotian in fifth place, 15.3 seconds behind the leader. “I didn’t do quite as well as I had hoped. But the good shooting saved it to some extent,” said Hettich-Walz, who fell in the first round.
Grotian steps in at short notice
The 19-year-old Grotian, who had a difficult debut in the individual with seven errors in 77th place, had slipped into the team at short notice for the slightly ailing Sophia Schneider. “I only found out this morning in the bathroom that I was running. I was pretty excited,” Grotian told the German Press Agency. The four-time junior world champion, who, like Olympic champions Magdalena Neuner and Laura Dahlmeier, is trained by Bernhard Kröll, had minor problems reloading during the first shooting and lost time. In the second shooting, things went much better with her extra cartridge and on the strong final lap the great German young hope worked her way to fourth place. “Now I know that I have what it takes and can shoot well here,” said Grotian.
The 26-year-old relay runner-up world champion Voigt showed an outstanding shooting performance and is still without a mistake after her two Östersund races. She changed third. Preuß, who is back to her old strength after two winters with difficult health conditions including foregoing the home World Cup and thoughts of retirement, made her only mistake so far in Sweden at the final attack, but she still had no chance against Öberg.
The men start the first relay race on Thursday (3:20 p.m./ZDF and Eurosport). After Roman Rees’ surprising victory in the individual and Justus Strelow’s second place, the DSV quartet has big plans. “I really want to fight together as a team and assert ourselves against the Norwegians and Swedes again,” said Rees.