The second German biathlon guard had an extremely successful weekend in the IBU Cup. The races in Martell will be remembered above all by Julia Kink, who celebrated her first victory in the senior women’s category.
The 19-year-old won the so-called short individual over 12.5 km in Martell thanks to an almost flawless overall performance and won her first race in the IBU Cup with a lead of just 0.8 seconds over her teammate Emily Schumann.
In addition to a strong performance on the cross-country ski run, with Kink recording the seventh-best running time at the end, the DSV youngster also shone on the shooting range, where she only made one mistake in the four attempts. Schumann also only received a penalty minute, but was a touch slower on the cross-country ski trail.
Third place went to the Swede Stina Nilsson, who was eliminated from the World Cup (+3.5 seconds), who was faster on the course in the end, but also made one more mistake.
Riethmüller shines with two podium places
In the men’s short individual, the Norwegians shone once again, competing without John-Olav Botn, who was outstanding in this IBU Cup season (started in the World Cup), but ultimately achieved a triple victory. As the best non-Norwegian, Danilo Riethmüller narrowly missed the podium in fourth place.
It was enough for Riethmüller to make it to the podium in the sprint, in which the 24-year-old took third place. Bitter: He was only 2.6 seconds short of second place, just 4.7 seconds behind the victorious Isak Frey from Norway.
In the final pursuit races, the DSV team set even more exclamation marks. In the men’s race, it was Riethmüller again who impressed in third place despite three penalties. David Zobel in fifth and Lucas Fratzscher in sixth rounded off the strong DSV performance.
And the women’s team also celebrated a successful farewell to Tyrol. With Johanna Puff (3rd), a DSV athlete also landed on the podium there.