World Cup in Antholz
Biathletes Voigt and Strelow win in the single mixed relay
Justus Strelow and Vanessa Voigt won the single mixed race at the World Cup in Antholz. photo
© Alessandro Trovati/AP/dpa
Vanessa Voigt and Justus Strelow confidently win the single mixed race in Antholz. In contrast to the competition, the German biathlon duo is very accurate at the shooting range.
Thanks to an almost perfect performance at the shooting range, Vanessa Voigt and Justus Strelow won the single mixed race at the Biathlon World Cup Antholz won, thereby ensuring the first German victory in this discipline since its introduction in February 2015.
Only in the last appearance did Strelow miss a shot; teams from Ukraine and Norway had only managed a spare shot before. For Voigt and Strelow it was the first World Cup victory of their careers.
“We stuck with ourselves from the start,” said the Saxon on ARD. “I was very confident in the duels in the first round, which gave me a good flow.” With the German flag in his hand, the 27-year-old trundled to the finish to the cheers of thousands of fans. He would have to look at this moment again later: “I still can’t believe it.”
Behind the Germans, the two Norwegians Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold and Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen (8 spares) came in second, 11.2 seconds behind, ahead of Lisa Theresa Hauser and Simon Eder (4) from Austria.
Voigt, who narrowly missed the podium in fourth place in the individual the day before, hit all 20 targets. It was the Thuringian’s first appearance in a single mixed competition. And this time she shot much faster than usual. “When I was shooting, I tried to shoot extremely quickly and implement the shooting I learned in training. I succeeded very well,” said the 26-year-old, who, like Strelow, was emphatically in favor of one Recommended for use in the single mixed at the World Championships in Nove Mesto on February 15th.
Strelow had already been called up for the start of the season in Östersund, Sweden, and had formed a team with Hanna Kebinger, who was currently missing. In seventh place, the two clearly missed the podium.