Janina Hettich-Walz won the first German medal at the Biathlon World Championships. When the Italian Lisa Vittozzi won, she sensationally won silver.
It took until half way through the World Cup for the DSV team to win their first World Cup medal. Janina Hettich-Walz delivers the race of her career in the individual in Nove Mesto and runs sensationally to World Championship silver (+20.50 seconds). It was the culmination of an excellent overall result for the DSV.
Vittozzi lives up to his role as favorite
The world title went to Lisa Vittozzi. The Italian showed strong nerves at the shooting range and on the cross-country ski trail and won confidently (0 errors / 40:02.90 minutes). Bronze went to the French Julia Simon (1 error / +29.60 seconds).
Vanessa Voigt remained clear in all four shootings and only missed the podium due to her weaker running performance. She ended up fifth (+1:06.20 minutes). “It’s simply indescribable. I’m incredibly proud of the girls,” said the beaming Voigt afterwards on ARD. “Today I’m standing here again and almost have to hold back tears, but out of joy.”
Hettich Walz celebrates the greatest success of her career
Janina Hettich-Walz also delivered a flawless performance at the shooting range and was also strong in her running performance. The reward was the silver medal. For Walz, it was the greatest success of her career. She couldn’t believe it herself. “When the two lighted up at the finish, I thought it couldn’t be,” Walz admitted afterwards. She has “no idea how I managed to flip the switch to make things go so well today.”
Grotian’s dream World Cup debut
The youngest DSV starter provided the other surprise. Selina Grotian made her World Championship debut and crowned it with fourth place (+1:01.10 minutes). She also made no mistakes in her shooting. In the end, half a minute was missing from the medal.
Preuss forgives Medal chance at the shooting range
The German biathletes were particularly accurate. Only Franziska Preuß did not make any mistakes. The best German runner only hit four of five targets in the first prone shooting and in the second standing and missed the chance for the medal due to the two penalty minutes. In the end she was the worst German, 15th (2 errors / +3:08.6 minutes)