Denise Herrmann had to close her eyes because the icy wind whistled relentlessly in her face. The biathlete was barely recognizable after she taped her forehead and cheeks and protected herself from the unbearable cold with a hat and several layers of clothing.
During the final training before the start of the Olympics, it was minus twelve degrees and you could guess what the skiers could expect at the Winter Games near Zhangjiakou: extreme biathlon.
“I hope that it will still be fair,” said Herrmann before the final training of the mixed relay. Together with Vanessa Voigt, Benedikt Doll and Philipp Nawrath, the Saxon will reach for the first precious metal on Saturday at around 1700 meters in China – but she doesn’t want to know anything about it.
“To think about medals now would be a bit wrong,” said the ex-world champion, but demanded: “Nothing can go wrong.”
Mixed relay at the Olympics
For the first time, the mixed team competition at the Olympics is also the first race. “If other nations do a perfect race, we have a hard time,” said Doll. Norway, Sweden and France are the favourites, while Germany has two debutants and wants to “get involved”, as Doll said.
The Thuringian starting skier Voigt and the Bavarian anchor Nawrath are going to the Olympics for the first time ever. For both of them, this fulfills “a childhood dream”, they said on the sidelines of the training session.
Review: No country has won more Olympic biathlon medals than Germany. Also in 2018 in Pyeongchang the DSV-Skijäger were the most successful nation. The team led by the outstanding double Olympic champion Laura Dahlmeier won seven medals (three gold, one silver, three bronze).
She has since retired, as has Arnd Peiffer, who secured gold in the sprint, and Simon Schempp, who won silver in the mass start. Only Doll, bronze winner in the pursuit, is still there four years later.
Difficult to achieve medal goal
The team had aimed for four to five medals before the Olympic winter. An already ambitious goal that will probably be difficult to achieve. “We no longer have the extraordinary talent that wins everything,” said women’s national coach Kristian Mehringer.
The golden days of Magdalena Neuner and Dahlmeier are over. “Unfortunately, that time will no longer exist, even if it was nice for Germany,” said Mehringer. In the meantime, “20 to 25 athletes are always able to finish on the podium with a good performance,” he said. That has been the case for men for a long time.
In Beijing, the gold candidates are different. Herrmann is struggling with problems at the shooting range, which is also considered to be very demanding and wind-prone on the new facility. Question marks remain with Franziska Preuss. As third in the overall World Cup, the Bavarian had her best year last season.
Until December, she was considered a woman for the medals. A fall down the stairs and a corona infection caused a week-long break in training. The 27-year-old is fighting for starts but, as expected, is not yet in the first competition.
Men dream of relay gold
“If everyone is fit, we expected three medals. Now we may have to put that into perspective a bit,” said Mehringer, who is hoping for at least one medal for his women.
Meanwhile, the men are dreaming of relay gold and are in better shape overall. The strong Doll won the last race before the Winter Games, Johannes Kühn also celebrated a victory.
The mixed quartet would be only too happy to provide a strong start. When France won the Olympics four years ago in Pyeongchang, despite a long lead, they only managed fourth place. Final runner Peiffer lost a medal after a penalty loop.
At the finish, 0.3 seconds were missing to bronze. In the competition, which was only introduced at the Olympics in 2014, Germany has so far been without any precious metal. Eight years ago, the team was disqualified after Evi Sachsenbacher-Stehle was found to be doping.