The pressure that biathlete Benedikt Doll felt on Friday afternoon must have been particularly great. Or was it more of a different kind of motivational boost? “My parents-in-law and my wife came,” explained the Black Forest native on ZDF after crossing the finish line. “They said they wouldn’t come here without a win from me.”
And so, at the biathlon premiere in Lenzerheide, the 33-year-old apparently felt compelled to leave all the competition behind him, sink ten out of ten targets and win the ten-kilometer sprint. In the end, Doll was 5.4 seconds ahead of the former sole dominator Johannes Thingnes Bö from Norway – and 36.8 seconds ahead of a man who obviously discovered new strengths in himself at the start of this biathlon season: Philipp Nawrath from the Allgäu.
After the weekend in Hochfilzen, there were not entirely unjustified doubts about the renewed strength of the German biathlon team. The first appearance of the men of the German Ski Association (DSV) in Lenzerheide (where the biathlon world championship after next will take place in 2025) was a striking reminder of the start of the season in Östersund, and what’s more: the DSV ski hunters took first, third, fourth and sixth place – a historically good result from a German perspective.
The next previously unknown German biathlete registers among the best
Philipp Horn achieved his best career result in fourth place in his season premiere. That he missed the podium by just 2.3 seconds with a penalty? Not his topic after this race. “I can’t believe I achieved such a performance in the World Cup,” explained Horn. Before the winter he had missed qualifying for the World Cup team and fought his way back through the second-tier IBU Cup. Johannes Kühn (one penalty, 44.3 seconds behind) rounded off the German team result in sixth place. The starting position for the 12.5 kilometer pursuit race on Saturday (2.40 p.m., ZDF and Eurosport) could be worse. “We can agree on how we can work together,” said Nawrath. The first mass start of the winter is on Sunday.
Why do the DSV men achieve such strong performances in Östersund, Sweden and now in Switzerland, whereas the Norwegians recently dominated everything in Hochfilzen in Tyrol? The temperature differences and possible connections to the strengths and weaknesses of the DSV ski wax alone are no longer likely to be the sole explanation after Friday’s sprint race. In Lenzerheide it was similarly warm on Friday as in the days of Hochfilzen. However, the DSV ski preparers may still have come up with a faster mix. “We had really, really good skis on the route,” said Doll. On Sturla Holm Laegreid he got time out “so easily”, “that’s not so common”. He also benefited from a shooting error by Bös, otherwise the Norwegian would probably have won. Laegreid, also a miss, finished fourth.
However, the overall World Cup still looks good from a Norwegian perspective: Tarjei Bö (317 points) leads ahead of Johannes Thingnes Bö (304) and the Swede Sebastian Samuelsson (281). Nawrath is in fourth place with 263 points, Doll (242) is sixth.
The explanation for the resurgent DSV team is not least about the renewed accuracy. “We shot very, very well,” said Doll. “When I was standing, I knew when I was shooting that it would definitely be a zero.” After the demand for success has been fulfilled – although not entirely serious – the family will come together for coffee and cake: “With home-baked cookies.”