When the biathlete Denise Herrmann-Wick had hit the last of all ten targets, there was a whiff of Ruhpolding in the air. From the place where German fans have reliably horned their athletes to great deeds for decades. But Herrmann-Wick was not at the shooting range in her adopted country, she was in Hochfilzen, a little further south, in Tyrol. So Austria. But after their tenth goal, the whole thing was no longer an Austrian thing, but actually more like in Ruhpolding.
Twelve days before her 34th birthday, Herrmann-Wick, who was born in Saxony, did not make herself immortal. With the first World Cup success for the German biathlon team this winter, however, she has achieved the biggest success of the season for this department of the German Ski Association (DSV) to date: a victory in the 7.5-kilometer sprint in 20:07.1 Minutes ahead of Marketa Davidova from the Czech Republic (one penalty/+18.1 seconds) and France’s Julia Simon (1/+20.1).
And at this place, which traditionally Herrmann-Wick had not exactly enticed to gala performances. “Hochfilzen is a place where I always had to put up with a lot,” she said after crossing the finish line in the mixed zone. “It makes me incredibly proud to leave the stand in Hochfilzen with a clean sheet after all these years.”
In Hochfilzen, the question was whether the German biathletes would soon be able to do a very decent race after three decent races in Kontiolahti, Finland. So after second place in the season, now also an individual placement on the podium, as they say in Tyrol – and as high as possible.
Height is fundamentally a topic in Hochfilzen, which is not called that by accident. The biathlon stadium stands on a snow-sure high plateau at an altitude of 1000 meters, almost 900 meters higher than the Kontiolahti facility. And this mountain air, it seemed, suited a German athlete extremely well on this first of a total of four days of competition.
The return of the fans to the legendary Tyrolean biathlon stadium
Around noon the last clouds had cleared over the Pillerseetal – and revealed the renaissance of a biathlon festival. After a two-year Corona break, the fans returned, their scarves and flags, the beer in mugs and Frankfurters with bread and mustard. Numerous black, red and gold winter hats shimmered between red and white fan costumes in the grandstands and on the cross-country ski run. “Feeling this tremor again, the fans along the route and in the stands, that was really really cool, that really sets something free,” said Herrmann Wick. And their fans rubbed their hands, initially because of the winter, which can also be seen in Hochfilzen. And then because unabashed German fingers did a good job on the shooting guns.
At first it seemed that the returnee Franziska Preuss could also do a top run. But she missed the last two targets – and thus missed the chance for a top 10 result. Vanessa Voigt missed once while lying and standing. Herrmann-Wick stayed cool, she shot fast – and let the cross-country skis run just as fast on mirror-smooth descents. A result of little snow and lots of sun. “There are hidden sheets of ice everywhere,” she said, “you shouldn’t press down hard on them.”
Compared to the good team performances in Finland, women’s national coach Kristian Mehringer should not have noticed an improvement. On the contrary. Many shooting errors and just this one top 20 placement ended up in the DSV balance sheet. In addition to Preuss, who missed the start in Finland ill, and Voigt, Anna Weidel and Sophia Schneider also made two shooting errors. Juliane Frühwirt remained flawless, but was too weak on the cross-country ski run.
On Friday, 1:45 p.m., the men will compete in the Hochfilzen sprint. For the women, the pursuit continues on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. The next warm-up round for the home World Championships is then in Oberhof (February 8th to 19th). In between there is another home race in January – in real Ruhpolding.