The German biathlon men celebrated their best team result in many years at the Lenzerheide sprint race. With Benedikt Doll as winner, Philipp Nawrath in third, Philipp Horn in fourth and Johannes Kühn in sixth, four DSV starters made it into the top six. A tremendous result that even national coach Uros Velepec did not expect.
The Slovenian, who has been working as the German national coach since 2023, was full of enthusiasm after the mega success of the DSV Skijäger and particularly pointed out the good team spirit and the great self-confidence in the team.
The fact that biathlon superstar Johannes Thingnes Bö prevented an all-German winner’s podium with his second place actually had something good for Uros Velepec. As the 56-year-old confirmed with a laugh on the “ZDF” microphone after the race, Bö saved him from cashing in a bet.
Apparently Velepec had bet with his German team that they would run naked to the German team’s wax container if the DSV biathletes finished first to third in a World Cup race.
“Yes, it was a special bet. […] Thanks to Johannes, it’s not necessary,” the successful coach admitted, adding that he had additionally motivated his team with his bet.
Filbrich is happy: “Not a flash in the pan!”
In addition to the German head coach Velepec, the men’s discipline coach, Jens Filbrich, was also completely enthusiastic about the team performance of the German biathletes on the “ZDF” microphone.
“On the one hand, you need very, very good material, so many thanks to the technicians. On the other hand, the boys trained very well, they trained very focused. They performed very well at the shooting range. That’s actually the most important thing, that they “We were also able to take our form from Östersund with us. It wasn’t a flash in the pan, but the boys are always able to run at the front,” said the former world-class cross-country skier, pleased about the outstanding result in Lenzerheide.