The biathlon elite started the winter of 2022/23 last week with a total of eight competitions. The popular crystal ball reading before the start of the season was underpinned for the first time in Kontiolahti, Finland, with hard facts. sport.de has collected the most important findings from the start.
A tailor-made start for the German biathlon aces
David Zobel surprised in the first race of the winter with third place in the men’s singles, the men’s and women’s relays of the DSV each followed up with silver and Roman Rees sprinted over 10 kilometers in third place: four podium places in eight races mark one absolute top start of the German biathletes, who previously only knew to a limited extent where they stand.
For comparison: Last winter, after the same number of races, only third place was achieved by Denise Herrmann-Wick. The last time they did better was in 2017/18 with five podium places after eight races. The DSV even topped three podium finishes in the first four men’s races in 2015/16, when Simon Schempp (18 World Cup victories/of which 6 with the relay) and Arnd Peiffer (19 World Cup victories/of which 9 with the relay) were two of the most successful Germans Ski hunters of all time measured against the legends Martin Fourcade and Ole Einar Björndalen.
DSV stars have increased in the cross-country ski run
If you look at the performance of the Germans, one thing catches your eye that is particularly pleasing: The athletes, who have so far formed the second guard of the DSV behind the draft horses Herrmann-Wick, Benedikt Doll and Johannes Kühn, have in the summer in the taken a clear step in the right direction.
World Cup newcomer Sophia Schneider underlines this fact most clearly. The 25-year-old, who was one of the better, but not the best, athletes on the track in the second-rate IBU Cup last year, shone in a duel with the absolute world leaders with two top 10 times. Anna Weidel, who undoubtedly lives from her performances on the shooting range, also showed an upward trend on the track. The same applies to Vanessa Voigt, who advanced to the extended world elite last year. She also gained weight again.
Unsurprisingly, Schneider (8th) and Weidel (5th) set personal bests in the sprint.
For men, Rees has impressively demonstrated the upward trend he showed towards the end of last winter. Justus Strelow, who was previously seen as a problem when it came to running, has also improved a lot and Zobel has also improved again compared to his individual World Cup appearances in 2021/22.
The only concern is Philipp Nawrath: the 29-year-old was regularly one of the fastest skiers in the field in 2021/22, if his error-prone standing position worked, the top 10 were absolutely within reach. In the first three individual competitions in 2022/23, Nawrath hit a very strong 44 out of 50 targets, but only ended up in the top 20 in the individual competition, as he clearly slacked off on the course.
The favorites remain the favorites
While the men’s singles ended with the unexpected victory of Swede Martin Ponsiluoma, at least in the shooting-heavy classic, the first podium place of Swiss Niklas Hartweg and Zobel’s third place, in the remaining seven races only athletes* and nations occupied the first three places , which one could expect there.
Norway’s dominator Johannes Thignes Bö, who his compatriot Filip Fjeld Andersen recently described as the “god in the cross-country ski run”, even won two individual races and led his relay to success. In the women’s category, the Swedes around the Öberg sisters Hanna and Elvira presented themselves as dominant as expected, in the absence of the two Norwegians Tiril Eckhoff and Marte Olsbu Röiseland.
The success of the Austrian Lisa Hauser in the sprint and the podium finishes of the Italians Lisa Vittozzi and Dorothea Wierer are anything but a surprise. The same applies to the victory of the fast Frenchwoman Julia Simon in the pursuer spwe, to the third place of her compatriot Emilien Jacquelin in the men’s counterpart and to the two second places of the Norwegian Sturla Holm Laegreid.
After all, with Rees and the Swede Linn Persson, two athletes* celebrated only the second podium finish of their careers.
Marc Affeldt