Biathlon World Cup
Grotian and Strelow at Holmenkollen in sixth place
Biathlete Selina Grotian in action. photo
© Hendrik Schmidt/dpa
Selina Grotian fails on her debut in the single mixed relay. The young biathlete has two penalties on Holmenkollen. It’s not enough for the podium.
Selina Grotian and Justus Strelow took sixth place in the single mixed relay at the Biathlon World Cup in Oslo after too many shooting errors.
The German duo had a narrow victory at Holmenkollen After two penalties and eight spares, Norway was 1:19.9 minutes behind the leaders. Sweden took second place in rainy conditions again after losing the finish sprint, while Finland surprisingly came third.
The 19-year-old Grotian appeared in the short mixed competition for the first time and initially stayed in the top group. Strelow, eight years his senior, even gave the team the lead for a while with a remarkable quick-fire performance. In January, Strelow and Vanessa Voigt celebrated Germany’s first ever World Cup victory in this non-Olympic discipline, but they came away empty-handed at the World Championships in the Czech Republic in February.
The last seeded Voigt was not at the start in Norway’s capital the day after a weak mass start race, which the Thuringian only finished in 25th place, and was given a break. Substitute Grotian from Garmisch-Partenkirchen returned to the course in second place, but fell back to tenth place after two penalties in the prone stage. The Saxon Strelow didn’t make any mistakes afterwards and had no chance in the fight for the podium places.