The German biathletes were unable to refuel in the last race before the World Cup.
Philipp Horn kept his eleventh place in the persecution of Antholz, after three shooting errors, the victory of Sturla Holm Lächreid was missing on the podium for more than a minute and a half. After the DSV sextet had made 18 errors in the sprint, this time it was a total of 15 penalty rounds at 20 shooting deposits.
“I’m not dissatisfied,” said Horn: “I was much alone, I didn’t know if I was fast enough. Shooting with three mistakes is one too much. But I’m still completely satisfied with the race.” He will now treat himself “two days of relaxation”: “I will go to the family and enjoy the time at home.”
Positive news from the German perspective was the return of Philipp Nawrath, who had been slightly cold at the seventh place in the season on Saturday. The Bayer landed in 21st place on the Olympic routes from 2026 (3 penalty rounds/+2: 37.7 minutes), six places behind the 13 positions improved Johannes Kühn (2/+2: 58.6).
The otherwise safe Justus Strelow (5/+4: 06.7) ended up in position 39, the David Zobel (2/+3: 35.2), which started as 54th) also collected a few points as 33.
With his victory, the error -free Lächreid defended the yellow jersey ahead of Johannes Thingnes Bö (3/+47.9), who became sixth. His older brother Tarjei Bö (1/+18.6) took third place in front of the Italian Tommaso Giacomel (2/+24.0).
From a German perspective, this season, only Nawrath, as third in the Sprint of Kontialahti and Annecy-le Grand Bornand’s mass start in the mass start of Annecy-le Grand Bornand for reasons of loading control.
After a short break, a large part of the team in the Antholzer Höhe will complete the final course of the World Cup preparation. The season highlight will take place in Lenzerheide from February 12th to 23rd. Felix Bitterling then expects a different appearance of his team.
“We know that the boys can perform much better than they showed it,” said the sports director: “I am sure that we will see them again in a different constitution.”