The wave of illness in the German biathlon team continues to rage. Shortly before the women’s relay race on Sunday (from 2:15 p.m.), the German Ski Association announced that there would once again be a change in the German quartet.
While it was said on Saturday that the German biathlon women with Selina Grotian, Janina Hettich, Sophia Schneider and Vanessa Voigt would start the 4×6 kilometer race in Hochfilzen, half a day later this line-up was already a waste.
Sophia Schneider was also hit overnight and had to withdraw from the relay competition because she was ill.
“Sophia Schneider developed symptoms of infection during the night and is therefore not ready for the relay in Hochfilzen today,” the DSV announced in an official statement on Sunday morning.
Since Anna Weidel, the supposed replacement candidate, was also out for health reasons, the DSV nominated Marion Wiesensarter for the relay race at short notice. “She replaces Sophia Schneider in her position,” the association said in its statement.
Franziska Preuß lost the lead in the overall World Cup
The German biathlon team has been repeatedly set back by illness-related absences in the last few days and weeks.
Franziska Preuß and Hanna Kebinger were also out with a coronavirus infection. “It’s not easy. Also because it seems to be a variant that is quite aggressive,” DSV sports director Felix Bitterling was quoted as saying by the “dpa”.
For Preuss in particular, the absence from the Hochfilzen weekend due to illness was bitter: she lost the lead in the overall World Cup without a fight because she was unable to compete in the sprint on Friday and therefore also missed the pursuit race on Saturday.