A very strong performance by the German biathletes in France. Franziska Preuß secured victory – a colleague experienced a moment of shock.
The men narrowly missed the podium at Le Grand-Bornand in France. Things went better for the women: Franziska Preuß secured victory (29:09.9) ahead of the French Julia Simon (+27.3) and her teammate Vanessa Voigt (+44.3).
The German biathlete Selina Grotian ended up fourteenth (+1.24.7) after a fall and ski drama.
Three German athletes were at the front. Franziska Preuß went into the first round behind the French Justine Braisaz-Bouchet. Not far away were Selina Grotian and Vanessa Voigt. But then Grotian had a mishap: her bond broke when she was in good shape and as a result she lost time. She could only ski on one ski and had to wait for a replacement. She then continued with two different skis.
On the first prone attempt, Preuß hit all the targets, while Braisaz-Bouchet had to go around once. Voigt also made no mistakes and finished in fifth place. Grotian also showed a flawless performance, but the ski drama caused her to fall back to 13th place.
Preuss also cleared all the targets in the second prone position. She remained at the top with a 30 second lead over Slovenia’s Anamarija Lampič. Followed closely by a large group, which also included Vanessa Voigt. She once again showed a flawless performance, as did Grotian, who did not allow herself to be irritated at the shooting range despite the hustle and bustle.
Preuss made a mistake during the standing attack. Despite her penalty, she remained in the lead as Lampič made two penalties. Behind Preuß were the French women Jeanne Richar and Julia Simon. Voigt returned to the track in fourth place with a perfect shooting performance.
Preuß also impressed in the last shooting and secured victory. Voigt took third place behind Simon and had to fight until the end as she was only five seconds ahead of Richard. In the end, she confidently defended third place.