At the end of the World Cup in Hochfilzen, Benedikt Doll and Co. have no chance. While Johannes Thingnes Bö rushes from victory to victory, the Germans hope for an increase.
The German biathletes don’t want to be unsettled by their weak team result in the pursuit race at the end of the World Cup in Hochfilzen.
Improvement before Christmas
“We continue to trust our concept. We are convinced that this will pay off”said sports director Felix Bittlerling from the German Ski Association in Austria: “Now we’re trying to gather strength and be fit for the next week to deliver again before Christmas.”
In the hunting race in Tyrol, Benedikt Doll was only 18th as the best DSV ski hunter. Justus Strelow (26th), Roman Rees (36th), Johannes Kühn (37th), David Zobel (42nd) and Philipp Nawarth (54th) also had no chance in the fourth win of the season for Norwegian Johannes Thingnes Bö. “We got a little bit better, that’s part of it“Said Bitterling. The poor starting position after the sprint contributed to the fact that not much was possible.
“There will be better days again”
“In this crazy field with the Norwegians going completely out of control, you just have to take risks right from the start.”said Bitterling. “We pick each other up and then there will be better days.”
These should ideally follow this week. On Thursday (2.10 p.m./Sportschau) the sprint continues in Annecy/Le Grand-Bornand. The final races before the Christmas break will take place in France until Sunday.
However, the men already had a sense of achievement in this still young winter: In the relay there were already places two (Kontiolahti) and three (Hochfilzen), as well as a third place each for Roman Rees and David Zobel in Finland.