Start of the season
Biathlon: Germans seventh in single mixed – Sweden wins
Despite seventh place, biathlete Justus Strelow is happy with the start of the season. photo
© Anders Wiklund/TT News Agency/AP/dpa
Here we go again: The biathletes have completed their first race of the new season. For the Germans there is not yet enough progress. Two Swedes celebrate a home win.
In the opening race of the new one In the biathlon winter, Hanna Kebinger and Justus Strelow clearly missed the first podium place for the German team. The duo came seventh in the single mixed relay in wintery Östersund.
At her final shooting, Kebinger was in third place with a slight lead, but then needed two spares and also had slight loading problems. The competition took advantage of this. The 25-year-old was unable to do anything on the final lap.
In the end, Kebinger/Strelow were 1:00.3 minutes behind the victorious Swedes Hanna Öberg and Sebastian Samuelsson, who were loudly celebrated by the enthusiastic home crowd. Second place went to the Norwegians Sturla Holm Laegreid and Juni Arnekleiv (+13.8 seconds), third place went to Julia Simon and Fabien Claude from France (+42.2 seconds), who were even able to compensate for two penalties.
At minus ten degrees Celsius, Strelow (26) opened with two error-free shooting sessions and brought the DSV team to the top at the same time as Austria. Kebinger then needed four spare rounds in her two rounds and fell behind slightly. But Strelow, who was once again confident and hit the target with his second ten shots, kept the team on course for the podium. But Kebinger, who needed a total of seven extra cartridges, couldn’t hold on.
Strelow: “I am very happy”
“It was a bit of a mess and I ended up crashing and dying. I affected Justus’ perfect performance a bit,” said Kebinger on ARD. Her teammate, however, was satisfied: “It was almost perfect at the shooting range. I’m very happy with the start to the season.”
A few hours before the start of the competition, the German Ski Association (DSV) announced that veteran Benedikt Doll (33) would not compete in the mixed relay (2.50 p.m.) as a precautionary measure due to minor “infectious symptoms”. According to team doctor Jan Wüstenfeld, he should probably start in the individual over 20 kilometers on Sunday (2.30 p.m./ARD and Eurosport). He is replaced by Philipp Nawrath (30), who was originally scheduled for the single mixed, and Strelow moved into the team with Kebinger for Nawrath.