He probably hardly expected this himself: Danilo Riethmüller secured second place in the mass start in France. It was his career best.
Things couldn’t have gone better for Danilo Riethmüller. The German biathlete kept his nerve until the end in the mass start in Le Grand-Bornand (France) and ultimately secured second place behind the Norwegian Tarjei Bö (37:20.8). For Riethmüller it was the first podium finish of his career (+4.0). He reached the finish ahead of Johannes Thingnes Bö (+9.7), who secured third place.
After his strong performance on ARD, Riethmüller said: “I was really shaking a bit. Because I knew that Johannes Thingnes was coming from behind, but I didn’t know how far they were.” Just behind Johannes Thingnes Bö was his compatriot Sturla Holm Laegreid. Until the last shooting, four Norwegians were in the lead. However, everyone showed their nerves and – in contrast to Riethmüller, who made no mistakes – had to complete penalty laps.
After the race, the German biathlete admitted with regard to Bö: “You know, he can run really well, the boy. But I finished really well. I managed to stay with myself. I was able to do my thing cleanly.”
Riethmüller also took over the red jersey for the leader in the mass start classification. In Kontiolahti the German ended up in fourth place. Now he was able to surpass his own career best from Finland once again. TV expert and former biathlete Erik Lesser confirmed that Riethmüller had “done extremely well” and added: “I was absolutely amazed by his performance today.”