SGathering self-confidence – Franziska Preuß fulfilled this task. The best German biathlete had nothing to do with the medal decision in the third race at the World Championships in Nove Mesto. But with just one shooting error, the 29-year-old Bavarian at least maintained her sixth place from Friday's sprint in the pursuit race on Sunday and fueled hope that a medal is possible for the German team in the second week of the World Cup.
At the front, the French Julia Simon once again did her own thing, confidently won her third gold medal at this World Championships and successfully defended her title in front of the Italian Lisa Vittozzi and her compatriot Justine Braisaz-Bouchet.
Another realization for the German team was that Franziska Preuß' skis also couldn't keep up with the competition. The technicians from the German Ski Association (DSV) had slept little during the night and spent a long time analyzing what had happened in the men's sprint on Saturday evening. Because after this race, Benedikt Doll had almost buried all hopes of a top placement in the pursuit. The gap to the top was too big after his 13th place.
Germans are running behind
The new world champion Sturla Holm Laegreid (Norway) only needed 25:24 minutes for the ten kilometers and two shooting sessions and hit all ten targets. Doll, the best German starter, made two mistakes while lying down and finished 1:41 minutes behind. Johannes Kühn (14th) and Philipp Nawrath (16th) also ran behind, although with only one shooting error they shot no worse than Johannes Thingnes Bö or Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen, who won silver and bronze respectively.
The fourth German, Philipp Horn (25th), even spoke afterwards of “the worst running time I have offered this season”. And Philipp Nawrath had recognized: “In terms of materials, we weren’t able to keep up with the best.”
The Germans started with good preliminary performances. Nawrath won the sprint in Östersund right at the start of the season, Doll led the races in Lenzerheide and Oberhof. “After many, many competitions where we had absolutely top skis, yesterday was unfortunately one in which we couldn’t keep up with the best in terms of material,” Jens Filbrich analyzed the result.
The Thuringian was hired by the DSV before the season to bring the athletes forward in terms of running and to close the gap to the Norwegians and other strong nations. Basically, “all four boys are in good shape,” added the 44-year-old.
However, with the exception of Oberhof, the successes of the season so far have come from those World Cups where the temperatures were significantly below zero. In Nove Mesto in the Czech Republic, temperatures are between five and ten degrees Celsius. The sun gave a short interlude on Saturday. But by the afternoon, rain clouds had darkened the sky again, and it was pouring just in time for the women to be chased.
On Sunday morning there was news from the IBU World Association: Due to the weather conditions, part of the route could not be used. For the sprint races, the organizers used large equipment to bring fresh artificial snow from the depot onto the track on Friday night.
Daily challenge
Warm wind and rain – German biathletes often find it difficult to cope with these conditions. Sebastian Hopf, chief technician of the German biathlon team, described the challenges in Nove Mesto as “pretty extreme”: The large amounts of pre-produced and oversummer artificial snow are more ice than snow, and large parts of the route lead through forest, so there are many spruce needles on the route.
In addition, this year for the first time, the skis have to be prepared without the environmentally and health-damaging fluorine wax, which made the lasts “more durable”, especially in dirty and wet conditions, and allowed them to glide better for longer. If the ability to glide decreases, the athletes have to use more force to move forward, tilt their bodies further forward and run more frequently, i.e. take shorter steps.
According to Hopf, there are around 200 fluorine-free products to choose from. It is the technicians' daily challenge to select the right one from this quantity for the respective weather conditions. To do this, they are the first on the route before the races and run up to 30 kilometers to test different skis and waxes.
At the beginning of the season it looked as if the German team had managed to adapt well to the new challenges. In the previous World Cup races it became clear that other nations, especially Norway and France, had also found the right material to complement the running strength of their athletes.
“The route here is really hard, it drains your energy,” said silver medalist Johannes Thingnes Bö. And: “The skis were the key to success today.” That could already be seen on Friday, when the French dominated the women's sprint and sang praises for their technicians.
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