Zhangjiakou (dpa) – For the German biathletes, the Olympic Winter Games in China ended without a third medal. Two days after bronze for the women’s relay, Franziska Preuss only managed eighth place in the final mass start.
The 27-year-old from Bavaria made a total of four penalties in tough conditions and at times strong winds and at the finish after 12.5 kilometers she was 1:26.4 minutes behind the new Olympic champion Justine Braisaz-Bouchet from France. In the mountains northwest of Beijing, Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff took silver, followed by her compatriot Marte Olsbu Röiseland who took bronze. The top trio made four shooting errors each.
Exhausted, Denise Herrmann (5 mistakes) finished 13th, shortly behind Vanessa Hinz (4) in 15th place and Vanessa Voigt (6) in 18th place missed the top ten. “It’s a bit of a shame that the wind blew in like that,” said women’s trainer Kristian Mehringer on ZDF. For him it was clear: “The best won.”
Overall, he was satisfied with his team. “We did a good job on the shooting range. Not much more was possible,” Mehringer continued. For Franziska Preuss it was important “that she do a good competition”.
Olympic record: Two medals for biathletes
This ended the Olympic biathlon competitions for the DSV ski hunters with two medals. In the first individual race, Herrmann had won gold over 15 kilometers before the relay secured bronze. “We imagined three medals.
We can go home satisfied with the gold and the bronze,” Mehringer summed up. Four years ago in Pyeongchang there were a total of three precious metals for the women. Laura Dahlmeier won two golds and one bronze .
At minus 14 degrees, Denise Herrmann started the competition after her Olympic victory with start number one and immediately took the lead at a moderate pace. The icy wind then posed major problems for the 30 best female skiers in the world. Just like Voigt and Preuss, Herrmann had to go straight into the penalty loop. Only Vanessa Hinz shot clean while Tiril Eckhoff took the lead. The Norwegian had cost her relay team a medal on Wednesday due to her penalties and was trying to improve her performance significantly for the Olympic final.
Eckhoff and Röiseland, who previously had three Olympic victories in China, set the pace at the front and after the second perfect shooting they pulled even further away. Herrmann lost a lot of ground after another penalty loop, Hinz fought his way up to fifth after five more goals. Voigt, fourth in the individual, had no chance of a strong placement early on and fell far behind with three penalties.
Gusts of wind make shooting difficult
With extreme gusts of wind, it felt like an eternity before Eckhoff and Röiseland were even able to fire a shot in the first standing stage. After two mistakes by the two leaders, the field was completely shaken up in almost unmanageable conditions. Röiseland had to give the lead to Braisaz-Bouchet, after their third mistakes each, Preuss and Herrmann were back in contact with the top ten. Just like Hinz after two extra rounds.
In the final showdown on the shooting range at 1700 meters, even one mistake could not stop Braisaz-Bouchet on his way to gold. She bravely fired her shots and was rewarded for it. All pursuers made even more mistakes. Preuss came through best of the DSV-Skijägerinnen with a penalty loop.