Justus Strelow knows the agony of last rounds pretty well. The 28-year-old is an outstanding shooter, 94 percent hit performance was achieved over the past season-a record. But on the trail, the biathlete is a brand of a fighter as a brand Supersprinter. And so on Wednesday he had little opportunity to enjoy the mountain backdrop at the start of the World Cup in Lenzerheide. After leaving the shooting range on a silver rank as the final runner of the Mixed relay, the danger stealed from behind. She was called Michal Krcmar, came from the Czech Republic – and actually snapped the silver medal.
Strelow went back to the trail with a lead of 20 seconds, Krcmar came up meter by meter. Strelow threw himself over the finish line, Selina Grotian and Franziska Preuss ran towards him, with Philipp Nawrath in his luggage there was later a jubilee of the successful quartet: for the first time in six years the Germans have been a World Cup medal in succeeded in this competition. And that even caused tears of joy despite the lost final round. “You can tell that there was pressure and it is falling now,” said Franziska Preuss on ZDF.
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Strelow had already come to a breath and of course: these last kilometers against the six -year older Krcmar were “incredibly painful”, said the German, and Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bö was also on his heels. The bronze medal was the first remedy against exhaustion – and in general: it was his premiere as the final runner. France delivered a parade show (a penalty round and six after-loaders) and won gold in gold before the surprisingly triumphant Czechs (0+9). Co -favorite Norway quickly shot out of the medal race with two penalty rounds, but was surprisingly just under fourth behind the Germans, who had only partially convinced with eleven additional cartridges at the shooting range.
“I first showed nerves and then demonstrated nerves,” says Nawrath
WM starts can often specify the direction for the following competitions, so this mixed relay was of particular importance. Selina Grotian was the first German to track down in the Roland Arena; It is one of the young but almost indispensable starters in the German team. Your great strength: keep calm. At her second World Cup she mastered the task routinely, but not error -free. The first round had a fall of Sweden Anna Magnusson and Julia Simon from France, Grotian ran out uninvolved. At the first shooting, the 20-year-old had to strive two relegates, standing as well. Ingrid Landmark Tankrevold had already maneuvered Norway in the penultimate place with two penalty rounds. As the sixth, Grotian handed over to Franziska Preuss.
Preuss has a lot to do in these competitions in Switzerland, after all, she is in the lead in the overall ranking, which arouses desires in the direction of medals. Lou JeanMonnot as the second French starter ran her own race at the front, and Simon’s fall could hardly harm the team. Franziska Preuß each made a subsequent loader lying and standing, as the fourth she clapped with Philipp Nawrath (+54.9 seconds).
After the women made their contribution, the best Germans went to the cross -country ski run this season in Nawrath, and he made it exciting again with a total of five releases. In the second shooting, Nawrath had to fight the penalty round, which can certainly be called his trauma. At the Olympic Games in Beijing three years ago, he failed in the last shooting in the fight for Olympic gold, after an extra round it was only fourth. Nawrath was all the more relieved that he was now doing better in Lenzerheide. “I first showed nerves and then demonstrated nerves by turning the penalty round,” he said on ZDF.
Since the competition failed, the medals for Germany remained within sight, Nawrath switched to four on Strelow. Actually, Nawrath would have been the natural runner for this season due to his running qualities, but the tactic in the German Ski Association (DSV) was different: preferred to put Justus Strelow on the safe shooter. Especially since Nawrath had finally plagued a cold. “I’ve never had such a soft knee when I was in. I was extremely excited, ”said Strelow later.
And then it was he who could conjure up more from this race than an ungrateful fourth place. While Emilia Jacquelin was able to do a penalty for France in the last shooting and nevertheless drove over the finish line as a world champion, Strelow scored all ten slices and thus lifted off the rest of the team. “Justus delivered incredibly at the shooting range. Madness to be able to witness this, ”said Philipp Nawrath. He knows best how difficult it is.
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