This Saturday Justus Strelow is starting the biathlon in Schalke. In his column for sport.de, the 28-year-old ski hunter shows great anticipation for the event – and reveals, with a wink, what the professionals of the second division soccer team FC Schalke 04 can still learn from him.
After the first three stops in the World Cup, I was happy to have returned home safely late on Monday night.
Because the end of the competitions in Grand Bornand was very close to Christmas, after my return from France I was able to really devote myself entirely to the holidays and recover completely. As an athlete, I’m always on the move, but at Christmas, everyday life was largely at a standstill.
It’s only this Friday that I’ll be getting ready for the next highlight of the season with a regular training session in Oberhof: biathlon at Schalke!
When our sports director Felix Bitterling asked me at the German Championships in August whether I could imagine starting there, I didn’t need any time to think about it. I had flirted with it a bit anyway and kept the date free. So I was able to say yes to Felix straight away.
Schalke is an invitation race. Only four German starters, two women and two men, are competing there in mixed relays. I consider it an honor to be included this time.
Justus Strelow raves about the atmosphere at Schalke: “Unique”
The atmosphere is unique: As an athlete, you don’t want to miss out on competing in a biathlon race in front of more than 40,000 fans in a football stadium. Even if it doesn’t bring you any World Cup points and isn’t the best preparation for future competitions.
Years ago, as a junior, I was allowed to run in the afternoon program at Schalke. In front of my father and my grandfather, I was basically the opening act, but I was also able to inhale a little of the special atmosphere in the arena hours before the main race.
You’re being cheered on every meter of the route, there aren’t any quieter sections at Schalke than there are elsewhere on the World Cup courses – it’s as if you were running from the legendary Birxsteig in Oberhof straight back into the packed stadium.
The course is relatively flat, but you have to work continuously on the trail. Speed and accuracy at the shooting range are particularly important – that suits me as a good shooter. Who knows whether there won’t be a few Royal Blue players among the biathlon fans in the stands on Saturday evening.
I say with a wink: I would like to demonstrate to the Schalke professionals in their living room what real accuracy means.
Justus Strelow