The painter Johann Georg von Dillis would have had fun. Dillis once captured the town of Ruhpolding as a wintry dream landscape. You could now place your paintings over the place like a stencil. Because it was snowing over Chiemgau, just in time for the Biathletes World Cup in Ruhpolding. Perfect conditions – and a woman named Julia Simon took advantage of them and conjured up a modern work of art in the snow.
The Frenchwoman Simon showed an almost perfect relay race at the start of the World Cup days on Wednesday afternoon. The 27-year-old was unstoppable neither on the cross-country ski trail nor at the shooting range. It didn’t suit her worst competitors, the women’s relay teams from Germany and Sweden, that Simon started as the last runner. Entering the cross-country ski trail in second place, just under a second behind the German Hanna Kebinger, Simon ran and shot as quickly as if a horde of Ruhpolding mountain costumers were after her. Kebinger ultimately brought the German women’s relay team to the finish line in third place, just behind the Swedes.
After the race, the German final runner Hanna Kebinger gave insights into her duel against Simon, which turned out to be a dubious honor. “Yesterday I was a bit shocked when they said I was going to finish running again,” said Kebinger. After her bumpy start to the season, she had only run “an incredibly few competitions”. When shooting prone, she only came to the shooting range shortly after Simon – before she experienced déjà vu with the Frenchwoman.
It seemed to her like the last time at the event in the Schalke Stadium, when she also ran against Simon. And now, in Ruhpolding? “It was clear to me then that she would be gone again by the time I started shooting.” How do you react in such a moment? “I tried to focus on myself.” The plan worked, Kebinger shot zero lying down and needed a spare while standing. Her conclusion: “I am now on an upward trend.”
This marks the second relay podium place of the winter for the German biathletes. Janina Hettich-Walz, Sophia Schneider and Franziska Preuß sent Kebinger into the final stage as the leaders. The German quartet proved to be strong at the shooting range and only used three spares. On Sunday in Oberhof, after three penalties and 15 spares, they only managed fifth place. But also under conditions that would not have been suitable for any art painting in the world.