You don’t have a plan! That’s almost what it sounded like. The Oberhof 2024 biathlon location was initially hardly recognizable to anyone who knew the place from February 2023. There was snow at that time – and Norway won almost every medal they could get. Now, almost a year later, there was initially no snow at all in Thuringia. There was a hail of criticism for this. “Disgusting. In some places there is very little snow,” was the assessment of the five-time world champion from a year ago at the same place, Johannes Thingnes Bö, on the NRK broadcaster. He considers the descents to be “life-threatening”.
One of his predecessors as the best biathlete on the planet went one better via remote diagnosis. “Maybe it’s time to choose a venue that suits our times,” Frenchman Martin Fourcade said on a social network. His criticism was apparently aimed at artificial snow production in the Thuringian Forest. The conclusion after the Thuringian days remained: Over the course of the weekend, the rain turned into snow. The route held up for all days and the taxidermists had apparently succeeded in creating a work of art with a white veil. And the sounds of the “Olsen Gang” theme song played again over the stadium loudspeakers – the film series was symbolic of German achievements.
Egon Olsen of the German ski gang is registered under the name Benedikt Doll and was delighted at the start. He stole what from a German perspective was the greatest success of the day from Oberhof. Franziska Preuß followed his victory in the sprint (Johannes Kühn came fifth) with second place behind the French Justine Braisaz-Bouchet (Janina Hettich-Walz came fifth). Anyone who knows the films knows that the Olsen gang is always caught by their hunters in the end. And that’s what happened to the Germans on Saturday. Franziska Preuß, Vanessa Voigt and all male German biathletes will remember the Oberhof pursuit races as something not so fond of. But it actually snowed – and things promptly got better again.
In an unusual line-up, Roman Rees, Benedikt Doll, Philipp Nawrath and Philipp Horn only had to admit defeat to the favored Norwegians on Sunday, who (almost) always win anyway. After a penalty loop from Nawrath and a total of 15 spare rounds, the DSV quartet was two minutes behind after four 7.5 kilometers, third place went to Italy. National coach Uros Velepec’s ski hunters achieved their third podium in the third season of the season in front of 20,500 spectators in the Grenzadler stadium, after previously finishing third in Östersund and Hochfilzen. The women finished fifth on Sunday afternoon. For the World Cup in Ruhpolding (starting next Wednesday), Benedikt Egon Olsen Doll isn’t the only one who needs a plan.