One sentence said it all. “I almost felt a little sorry for the French women,” explained biathlete Franziska Preuß, 30, in the stadium in Hochfilzen, where she had been herded forward by fans, where hundreds of German flags were flying – and a few French ones. However, her pity was limited, she said, “of course we’re happy to take that with us now.” The sympathy related to the high proportion of black, red and gold battle hunters in the finish area, but it also matched the decisive 30 seconds of this women’s relay team at the shooting range beforehand.
The biathlon race on Sunday afternoon culminated in a final duel: Preuss against the French Lou Jeanmonnot. Both took aim at the five targets at the same time and pulled the trigger. While Saturday’s winner, Jeanmonnot, missed one target after another in the wild Tyrolean snow, Friday’s winner hit five shots on target in 25.3 seconds. The Frenchwoman even had to go into the penalty loop, so with a lead of more than a minute, Preuß had the luxury of skating a German flag to the finish while cowbells rang.
The German women achieved their last relay victory in January 2021
The German biathletes achieved their first relay win since January 16, 2021 in Oberhof, and Preuß was also there then. “I can still remember the victory, it was back in Corona times, so of course it was really cool in such an atmosphere,” she said on ZDF: “All three girls in front of me did a great job, then I wanted to I don’t fuck up.”
Vanessa Voigt, 27, 19-year-old Julia Tannheimer and Selina Grotian, 20, submitted and only managed four spare rounds, significantly less than all the other teams. Tannheimer, in second place, brought the German team from fourth place to second place behind France. “It was a little too slow for me uphill,” said Tannheimer: “Then I thought that I would rather go ahead so that the distance to the front doesn’t get too big.”
It remained at four extra German cartridges because Preuß cleared all the targets, both lying down and standing, despite the difficult conditions. The Ruhpolding native is now traveling to the last World Cup of this year next week in Le Grand-Bornand, France, as the overall World Cup leader.
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