Bitter damper
Shooting debacle for German biathletes
12/02/2025 – 5:09 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
The German biathletes are wobbling again at the shooting range. Franziska Preuß was also disappointed when an Italian won.
Overall World Cup winner Franziska Preuß suffered another bitter setback in the first individual World Cup race of the Olympic winter over 15 kilometers. The 31-year-old only finished in a sobering 29th place in Östersund, Sweden, when Italian Dorothea Wierer won. As at the start on Saturday, the ambitious Preuß had problems with shooting in difficult wind conditions. She made four errors.
The 35-year-old Wierer also took over the yellow jersey of the leaders in the overall World Cup. The Bavarian Preuß was allowed to wear the coveted bib in the competition as a symbol of her triumph in the previous season.
Preuß had already experienced bitter disappointment in the relay in eleventh place. She even had to go into the penalty loop once. In the individual on Tuesday, the Bavarian was a whopping 3:09.1 minutes behind the 35-year-old Wierer, who celebrated her 17th career victory after difficult times. The 35-year-old won with two shooting errors, narrowly ahead of the surprisingly strong Sonja Leinamo from Finland (1/+0.3 seconds) and the French Camille Bened (1/+8.4).
Overall, the German team had some problems at the shooting range and therefore had nothing to do with the top positions. Janina Hettich-Walz, who made four errors, was still the best biathlete in the German Ski Association (DSV) in 17th place. Vanessa Voigt (3), Marlene Fichtner (5), Selina Grotian (6), Anna Weidel (8) and Julia Tannheimer (9) finished behind Preuß.
On Wednesday (from 3:30 p.m. in the t-online live ticker) the men’s individual over 20 kilometers continues. This is followed by the women’s sprint over 7.5 kilometers on Friday (4 p.m.) and the men’s sprint on Saturday (4.30 p.m.) and the two pursuers at the end of the World Cup in Östersund on Sunday (1.15 p.m. and 3.20 p.m.).