Franziska Preuß is currently unstoppable. Although the biathlete is still slightly ailing, the 30-year-old won the pursuit at the World Cup in Le Grand-Bornand and extended her lead in the overall World Cup with her second success of the season. The German top result was crowned by Vanessa Voigt in third place, while the French Julia Simon came second.
Preuß, who lost out to Justine Braisaz-Bouchet from France by 1.4 seconds in the sprint on Friday and then refrained from giving interviews as a precautionary measure, only missed once on Saturday. Voigt even made no mistakes before they both hugged each other beaming with joy at the finish. On Friday they both complained of a slight sore throat. In terms of running times, Preuß ranked 14th on Saturday, Voigt was 20th.
:All dates for the biathlon competitions at a glance
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For Preuß it was the fifth podium finish of the winter and for Voigt the second. “I went straight to bed yesterday. I’m very satisfied, it could have gone completely differently,” said Preuß, who appeared for the interview again wearing a mouth and nose mask, on ARD after the “mega cool race.” Voigt was also more than satisfied. “I’m very proud of it. I really ran out of grains, especially on the route. I know for a fact that I have to rock it on the range because I can’t keep up on the track.”
Selina Grotian loses a ski
Meanwhile, Selina Grotian was very unlucky: On a descent in the first few laps she lost her right ski and the binding apparently broke off the plate. She was given a replacement ski, but lost a lot of time. In the end, she crossed the finish line in 14th place, Anna Weidel finished in 21st position. 19-year-old Julia Tannheimer decided not to start for health reasons. She didn’t feel well in the sprint on Friday, where she only came 53rd. It is still unclear whether she will compete in the final mass start on Sunday (2.45 p.m./ARD and Eurosport).
In the men’s race, Danilo Riethmüller showed an outstanding performance with the fastest time of the day. After a weak sprint, the 25-year-old made up 22 places over the 12.5 kilometers with just one shooting error. “It was a solid race for me,” said Riethmüller on ARD. After recent weak performances, he was “working quite a bit. I really wanted to convey what I had worked on in training.” Despite some unfavorable starting positions, Johannes Thingnes Bö’s victory saw four Germans finish among the top 17. Philipp Horn, who started fourth, crossed the finish line in eighth place. Justus Strelow ended up in 13th place, Philipp Nawrath fell from sixth position to 17th.
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