In German biathlon there has recently been talk of young wild ones, meaning the four ski hunters Johanna Puff, 22, Selina Grotian, 20, Julia Kink, 20, and Julia Tannheimer, 19. So they are undoubtedly young, and based on the first impressions of the season from Kontiolahti in Finland is also quite wild, but especially at the shooting range, where wildness is less important than calm and cool-headedness. In numbers: Of the 80 bullets fired from the four’s small-caliber rifles, 18 missed their target on Wednesday, giving the quartet a hit rate of 77.5 percent, which doesn’t sound so bad – but in the Biathlon World Cup it’s only for places beyond the top. 40 points is enough. From a German perspective, the people who were no longer quite so young and not quite so wild had to do it.
Two German women are among the most stable biathletes in the early stages of this winter. Franziska Preuß, although still in rather unstable health, appeared to be in good shape after two days of rest and missing the relay race, and if she hadn’t missed the penultimate shot in the night sky of Kontiolahti, which feels like a night sky even during the day, she would have missed The 30-year-old was asked to be on the podium among the top three for the first time this season. Lou Jeanmonnot from France won the short women’s singles ahead of the two Swedes Ella Halvarsson and Elvira Öberg, while Preuß finished fifth after missing two targets. Her teammate Vanessa Voigt, third in the single mixed relay, came ninth with just one miss. The 27-year-old might have made it to third place with a mistake-free race.
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Johanna Puff, however, smiled, but she didn’t seem particularly happy with her 74th place. Grotian (50th) and Kink (65th) also looked slightly depressed at the finish. Julia Tannheimer (57th), who graduated from high school six months ago, gave her own race a grade of three, given her five shooting errors and the eleventh best running time of all 102 starters. Only Preuß was even faster than them in the DSV team. “I’m positively surprised,” Preuß told ARD. She “actually just lay in bed for two days. It was a really good race for that.” The two most experienced DSV biathletes are likely to be among the extended favorites in the sprint on Saturday and the mass start on Sunday. This means that the selection of German women is significantly broader than that of men.
After the departure of reliable winning runner Benedikt Doll, it was clear that coach Uros Velepec’s team would face a tough winter. The previous races in Kontiolahti confirm the suspicion. Fourth place in the relay was almost a success compared to the shortened individual race on Tuesday, although for the first time in two winters there was no German men’s relay team on the podium with consistent top three results. In the individual, Philipp Nawrath finished 22nd, with three shooting errors, as many as Danilo Riethmüller (30th) and Philipp Horn (32nd). Johannes Kühn (5 errors, 54th place), David Zobel (4th, 60th) and Justus Strelow (6, 81st) seemed the most surprised themselves. An 80 percent rate – and hit pictures like after a saloon shootout in the Wild West. One could almost be glad that their scattered bullets didn’t kill any brown hare or unlucky jay.
Wilderness and poachers rarely get along well, as the German men’s head coach could see. “I can’t say it was the worst day in my coaching career,” Velepec said. But there wasn’t much missing. He had to take into account that “none of the six athletes could shoot”. And in terms of running, his men are “not competitive compared to Norway and France,” says Velepec. Many of his athletes “felt tired,” explained the Slovenian. With a view to the sprint on Friday, proper regeneration is important: “That’s the key.”
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