The German biathletes achieved notable successes in the Oberhof pursuit. However, Justus Strelow and Philipp Nawrath clearly missed the top 10.
The German biathlon hope Justus Strelow clearly missed out on a top placement at the home World Cup in Oberhof on Saturday. The 28-year-old, who was the first German to start the pursuit race with starting number 18, ended up 17th, although he was one of the best shooters in the entire field with just one mistake at the shooting range.
The best German at the finish was veteran Philipp Nawrath in 16th place. With four errors he missed a better placement at the shooting range. The Norwegian Sturla Holm Lagereid won (two errors). His teammates and brothers Tarjei and Johannes Thingnes Bö completed a triple triumph for the Scandinavians.
The other Germans ended up way back: Danilo Riethmüller was 25th (4 errors), Johannes Kühn 29th (3), Simon Kaiser finished 44th (7), directly followed by Philipp Horn (45th/6).
Strelow, who lost a lot of time on the cross-country ski trail, struggled with his performance after the race. “I tried to keep up well in the first two rounds and then suffered a lot in the last two rounds,” he said on the ZDF microphone.
At the shooting range he was “satisfied so far” with one mistake. “But I would have imagined making up a few more places,” added Strelow.
His teammate Nawrath would also have expected a little more, but overall he was satisfied. “Four mistakes – that’s not quite what I was hoping for,” said Nawrath, who declared a “solid result” overall.