It is not known whether the Swedish general Sven Thofelt had such scenes in mind when he introduced the term “biathlon” in 1949. The prefix ‘Bi’ means ‘two’ and rarely has biathlon been closer to its essence than now, with Italy’s Lisa Vittozzi and Germany’s Denise Herrmann-Wick heading to the shooting range for the final duel of the day. At the same time, as if pulled by a thread, they unslung their sporting rifles. Silence in the sold-out arena. It was clear to everyone: It is now about World Cup gold.
Seconds later the decision was made. The Italian shot clean, Herrmann-Wick needed spares, and so in the end – despite 23,500 spectators and a majority of German flags – it wasn’t enough for the second German gold medal. Silver in the relay was on the scoreboard on Saturday afternoon, the third medal for the German biathlon team at this World Cup. General Sven Thofelt, may he rest in peace, might have been pleased with his Swedish compatriots’ third place.
Were the Germans more likely to lose gold? Or mainly won silver? The four relay women were relatively unanimous. “This is the most important medal for our team,” explained Denise Herrmann-Wick after the race in the mixed zone. Even more: “This is a medal for all of biathlon Germany.”
Seen in this way, the German relay result should also mean relief for Biathlon Thuringia. And for Thuringia’s only World Cup starter Vanessa Voigt. The 25-year-old had struggled in previous World Cup races and looked as if she was not only carrying a gun on her shoulder, but a whole backpack full of Thuringian potato dumplings. Should she even compete in the relay with this package? She should, as so often this season as a starting runner. Voigt could not quite keep up with the very best in terms of running, but showed two rapid and flawless shooting bouts. “The last few days have been anything but easy for me,” she said later. “You have to rely on what you can.”
“I knew that Denise is very fast on the cross-country ski run,” says Vittozzi, “I had to try it on the shooting range.”
Hanna Kebinger took over – and after her two laps handed over solidly to Sophia Schneider, who finally sent Denise Herrmann-Wick onto the track as second five seconds behind the Italians. At the penultimate shooting of the day, all targets fell for Vittozzi and the German – and so it came to the most thrilling of all finals in biathlon: the decision at the last shooting position. “My standing shooting is really good at the moment,” Vittozzi later explained to ARD after the finish line. “But I also knew that Denise is very fast on the cross-country ski run.” Her strategy: “I had to try to put her under pressure at the shooting range.” This tactic worked.
It took Vittozzi less than 20 seconds to sink all five without reloading. Herrmann-Wick, meanwhile, had scored twice – and it was clear that she would not be able to stop the Italian with one spare. shot three. Besides. Thousands of sighs in the stands.
Nevertheless, her three teammates could hardly contain their joy when Herrmann-Wick crossed the finish line. For them it was their third medal at this event alone – for the other three it was their first World Championship medal. For the spectators in the arena on the Rennsteig, the exciting spectacle was like a late reward for their long-term commitment.
In the morning there was still a cancellation of the relays – for the men the race became a wind lottery
Since nine o’clock in the morning, thousands had waited at the side of the track in wind and rain to position themselves for the first part of this penultimate day of the World Championships, the men’s relay. She was on the program before the women’s relay. But the chants of the German fans died away in the storm that had been sweeping through the Thuringian Forest alarmingly briskly since the early hours of the morning. The race director had considered a cancellation, but then stuck to the plan. And so, from 11.45 a.m., a memorable biathlon race took place, even if not from a sporting point of view. It was more memorable because the relay race developed into a wind lottery.
After starting runner Justus Strelow, Johannes Kühn went into the cross-country ski run for Germany. Strelow had only used one spare while standing, Kühn had already shot zero in the prone. Now the Upper Bavarian came together with a bunch of competitors for the standing performance. But it was already clear from the wind flags in the stadium that things could get complicated now. It became.
In the next two to three minutes, the shooters got a whopping 25 penalty loops. About a minute ahead of Kühn, the athletes were even luckier with the wind, the French for example. But Kühn and many others practically never hit a target, and if they did, it was more by accident.
“There wasn’t a single hit on the stand for 40 seconds,” explained Kühn later. “You just couldn’t shoot at all, it was so twisting.” He tried to wait, “but the longer I waited, the worse it got.” Result: He hit two of eight shots – and had three penalties. The Ukrainian Dmytro Pidrutschnji even got four additional 150 meters in the cross-country ski run. His team ended up 13th.
Johannes Thingnes Bö missed his sixth gold in the sixth World Championship race
One would have to dig deep in the biathlon archive, somewhere between General Sven Thofelt and Johannes Thingnes Bö, to find a comparably faded biathlon race. A medal was now almost hopeless for the German men’s quartet. Especially since the final shooting of this race, standing again, was blown and twisted once again. DSV final runner Benedikt Doll got two more penalties and finally finished fifth.
And the five-time gold medalist from Oberhof, the Norwegian Johannes Thingnes Bö? Missed three shots in a row in that last shooting. Although he still avoided the penalty loop, he did not manage to catch up with the French, who were relatively spared from the wind. For the first time this season there was no Norwegian men’s relay win. Sweden was third – that was the only constant on this changeable biathlon Saturday.