The Thuringian Rostbratwurst is not necessarily a classic sports food. And so it may be reasonable that the athlete Vanessa Voigt has her favorite grilled sausage dangling from her backpack as a dummy. The dangling sausage is not suitable for consumption and can therefore be described as the long-lasting sausage of this endurance athlete. Or, as Vanessa Voigt calls it: “My lucky charm.”
The talisman alone is not enough, as was shown on Wednesday. On the first day of the Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof, start runner Vanessa Voigt stumbled, got caught in a competitor and almost fell. Denise Herrmann-Wick had finished third before Benedikt Doll handed the German team a penalty loop and thus missed their chance on the podium. Final runner Roman Rees finally finished sixth. “This is not a total disappointment,” said Voigt after the race at the finish. But it was “not so easy for her, with all the media appointments, everyone wants something from you.” But: “It’s also exciting to follow this process.”
Vanessa Voigt’s backpack sausage didn’t live up to its original purpose. Voigt fixed it almost exactly a year ago, shortly after receiving the lucky charm from the mayor of Floh-Seligenthal, her community of origin. She had it with her at the Beijing Olympics before returning home with a bronze medal. In Oberhof she now has a slightly shorter journey, five minutes from home to the biathlon arena.
Voigt is the only one who still represents the once proud biathlon state of Thuringia
It’s their own personal home field advantage. But as so often with side effects. Voigt is the only athlete in the proud biathlon state of Thuringia. In the local press, the local biathlon scene has already been dismissed as a result, pointing out how different it used to be. In 2004, at the first World Championships in Oberhof, Thuringia provided more than half of all German starters – seven out of 14. Now this quota is one out of twelve. Six come from Bavaria, however, the Upper Bavarian base in Ruhpolding has outstripped Oberhof in sporting terms. But Oberhof has more snow this year.
At the opening ceremony on Tuesday evening, Frank Luck, Kathi Wilhelm, Katrin Apel, Sven Fischer and Peter Sendel recalled the great Thuringian biathlon times, they were all there in 2004, not to mention Andrea Henkel and Alexander Wolf, who were the Thuringian World Cup septet at the time completed. So the home fans will eventually focus on their Bratwurst Vanessa so they can roar to Gold Nessi together. Voigt has to deal with this mixed situation, which is often called pressure in sport.
How much she is in focus could be guessed on Tuesday in the stadium when no fans flocked in but a crowd of journalists. 20 of them surrounded a woman who had just put down her backpack with her lucky charm and was ready for an interview. “I think a lot is expected from the outside,” she explained. “And if you then set your expectations too high, it’s not the perfect mix.”
The other DSV biathletes also make mistakes, Benedikt Doll has to go into the penalty loop
She will hardly be to be pitied, she also explained that. Especially since so many have announced that Voigt knows a little better. “The family will be there for the entire World Cup, every race,” she explained. Always at her side, also here in Oberhof: her twin brother and roommate Kevin, who works as a photographer and accompanies her throughout the season. In view of all these useful circumstances, she certainly feels anticipation. Not without reason, as was immediately apparent on Wednesday.
19,000 loud spectators had come to the Arena am Rennsteig for the start – hoping to celebrate the first German mixed relay victory in six years. But nothing came of it. The already favored Norwegians secured their first world title despite a penalty loop and nine spare rounds ahead of Italy (six spare rounds, 11.6 seconds back) and France (nine spare rounds, 55.9 seconds back). In the end, the DSV quartet was one minute 26.5 minutes behind. It wasn’t Voigt’s Strauchler that was decisive, but rather the many German shooting errors, above all those of Doll, who committed the penalty loop in prone position.
After two spare rounds, Voigt passed in eleventh place, a minute behind and “a mixed feeling”. The still quite new biathlon sports director of the German Ski Association Felix Bitterling had attested her a good report the day before. “We are very happy with their development,” he said after the reporters left Voigt and discovered a new target in Bitterling. Bitterling was now reminiscent of Ruhpolding, where Voigt recently finished fifth and almost made it onto the podium in front of a full crowd at the mass start. According to Bitterling, full ranks would suit Voigt. “I feel like running in front of a big audience gives her an extra kick.” That didn’t happen, but there would have been room for 8,000 more people in the stadium.