Brilliant start for the German team at the biathlon World Cup in Lenzerheide. In the Mixed relay, the DSV quartet made it to third place on Wednesday (February 12, 2025) when France was victory, but in the end almost lost the medal.
Selina Grotian, Franziska Preuß, Philipp Nawrath and Justus Strelow had 1: 18.4 minutes behind the old and new world champions from France (1/6) after 4×6 kilometers and eight shooting deposits (0 penalty rounds/11 followers), which above all in The trail was a class of their own. Silver surprisingly went to the quartet from the Czech Republic (0/9), which still caught the German team at the final round and was 4.6 seconds earlier.
For the German Ski Association (DSV) it was the first World Cup medal in the mixed relay since second place in the 2019 title fights in Östersund. And she was hard fought. “It was incredibly painful”Strelow described the last round to the finish on ZDF. At the beginning he went with the pace of the competitors and had to “Then pay for two laps. I am glad that I somehow saved the medal to the finish.”
A few tears at Preuss
“You can tell that there was pressure and it falls off now”said Preuß, who had some water in his eyes at Strelow’s finish: “It’s just nice that it worked today. We all appreciate that.” Nawrath enjoyed not having the pressure of the final runner and firing from outside: “It was amazing to look at it and experience it.” Grotian, who had laid the foundation for the medal as the starting runner, summarized: “All in all, we deserve to be here on the podium.”
Two times two for Grotian
Selina Grotian opened the race for the German team and immediately took the lead. There was a moment of terror behind her when Swede Anna Magnusson and Julia Simon got in the way and plunged on a departure. Simon lost her ski rocks and had to run a few meters without running, but was supplied with a new material after a short time.
Patricia Gabor, Sportschau, 12.02.2025 4:03 p.m.
Grotian then had to use two additional cartridges at the first shooting and initially lined up as a ninth with almost 15 seconds behind the leading Finn. On the way to a standing shooting, she was able to halve the gap, but shot again twice. So she was still 17 seconds behind Suvi Minkkinen, who remained again flawless, but now got pressure from Simon. The French woman passed on the way to the first change and was the first to hand over.
JeanMonnot runs away from the competition
Almost 20 seconds behind, Grotian handed over to Franziska Preuß, who was now trying to catch up with her great competitor this winter, Lou JeanMonnot. But the French woman put pressure on it, expanded her lead to 27 seconds to the recovery shooting and even had 33 seconds after a quick shot. Preuss had to reload once and, at the age of 41 seconds, made himself a deficit.
When JeanMonnot had left the shooting range after a relief after a league, her competitors came around Prussia and the Italian Dorothea Wierer. Again, Prussia had to reload, so she was 51 seconds behind France and ten seconds behind the podium. Until the change, Preuss lost another three seconds and handed over to Philipp Nawrath as fourth.
Nawrath avoids the penalty round
But he couldn’t really make up the ground on France either. Eric Perrot ran quickly and also remained flawless at the shooting range. Nawrath had to use two extra batons, but pushed himself to third place behind France and the Czech Republic. Gold was now gone for over a minute, silver almost ten seconds. The lead to fourth place was 17 seconds.
For France it was also in the sixth of the eight shooting like clockwork, the gold medal took shape. Nawrath was able to shorten the gap, but he was just able to avoid the penalty round when shooting. Because the Czech Vitezslav Hornig also needed all three aftert loaders, Italy was now back in second place, closely followed by the Czech Republic and Germany.
Strelow shoots the team for bronze
Surrounded by his two opponents, Justus Strelow was the last German on the trip. The gold medal was only possible at almost one and a half minutes behind in the case of serious mistakes by Emilia Jacquelin. But the Frenchman didn’t want to do this favor to the opponents. He was able to afford his one after the loader. Behind it, quick shooters Strelow initially settled with a world-class shooting performance from his opponents and was now second with almost 17 seconds.
And France suddenly had to tremble for the successful title defense because Jacquelin suddenly shot several mistakes. Once he had to go to the penalty round, but the gold medal was ultimately not endangered. Behind it remained error -free and only had to walk home the medal.
But Michal Krcmar rushed up from behind. And Norway was suddenly back in the race after the team had been in 20th place after two penalty rounds of starting runner Ingrid Landmark Teldrevold. With the last strength, however, Strelow was able to save third place in front of the rushing Johannes Thingnes Bö.