The German biathlon men also impressed in the second relay race of the season. At the World Cup in Hochfilzen on Sunday (December 10, 2023), the DSV quartet again finished third behind Norway and France.
David Zobel, Johannes Kühn, Philipp Nawrath and Benedikt Doll had a total of nine spare rounds and had to go into the penalty loop once. In the final shooting, Doll secured third place against Italy. The German men’s relay team had already finished third at the start of the World Cup in Östersund.
Once again there was no getting past Norway. As in Östersund, the Scandinavians around the brothers Johannes Thingnes and Tarjei Bö as well as Sturla Holm Laegreid and Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen dominated and took victory over the French with just five spares after 1:15:38.5 minutes (6 spares/+28 .7 seconds).
Zobel’s penalty cost time early on
As in Östersund, Zobel started as a starter and initially did well at the shooting range. With a spare shot while prone, he kept in touch with the leaders, including the favored Norwegians and French. Zobel was also able to gain a few places on the track by the second shooting and moved up to third place. However, when he was standing still, there was a setback: the first two cartridges missed the target, and in the end the 27-year-old had to do an extra lap and handed Johannes Kühn a rucksack that lasted almost a minute to the leading Frenchman when he made the transition.
Even the mistake in prone shooting would have put him in “Forced to act“, Zobel reported afterwards, shaking his head. While standing, after the two mistakes, he said “shaking all over and doing the team a disservice. I’m sorry for that.“
Kühn also had problems with standing shooting
While Norway, with Tarjei Bö, was able to reduce the gap to the top to six seconds thanks to error-free shooting, Kühn also impressed with five direct hits and was able to shorten the gap to the top places a little. But as with Zobel, things didn’t go smoothly for him while standing. Two spares cost us an even better placing before the second change, in which Norway was the first nation to hand over.
In the end, Kühn had moved his relay team up six places. “I ran as fast as I could. As a second runner, a lot is still possible“explained the 32-year-old.”The bottom line is that everyone has to perform at their best. I managed that quite well.”
Nawrath takes third place
Nawrath started the race in seventh place, over a minute behind, but the podium was always within reach. And the sprint winner from Östersund once again demonstrated his current outstanding running form: by the first shooting he was even able to make up time on Johannes Thingnes Bö. He, in turn, had problems with his diopter and brought France back into the race with two spares. Nawrath also took full risks and was able to take third place with quick shooting and only one spare load.
Things went even better in the standing position: Nawrath turned over all the targets in no time and shortened the gap to the second-placed French to 30 seconds, which lasted until the switch to final runner Doll. “II tried to do my own thing and I think I succeeded quite well“, said Nawrath happily. At this point, Norway had already been ahead by almost a minute thanks to a fabulous final round from Gustav.
Doll keeps his nerve against Hofer
Since Christiansen for Norway and Quentin Fillon Maillet for France did not show any weakness on the shooting range, Doll was initially unable to make up any ground with two spares. On the contrary: Italy was now breathing down the DSV team’s neck, just a few seconds behind. While Christiansen made the victory for Norway perfect in the final shooting with the next error-free series, Fillon Maillet also secured second place for France with five direct hits. There was a showdown for third place between Doll and Hofer for Italy at the shooting range. Doll kept his nerve and scored five times, while Hofer had one spare. That should be enough for Germany and third place.