Apart from one mistake, he was undamaged standing, but continued to lose time to the very front. After all, he was able to move the team up to fifth place, while the ROC (Russian Olympic Committee) circled lonely at the top.
Drama at the last shooting
Benedikt Doll then brought the Germans close to a medal: the 31-year-old had just one penalty, conceded to his colleagues from Italy and Belarus and, in fourth place, handed over to Philipp Nawrath.
He initially had a gripping fight with Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen from Norway and superstar Quentin Fillon Maillet from France.
Then came the drama in the final standing stage: Eduard Latypov lost his nerve at first – the Russian lost his comfortable lead to Norway and slipped down to third place. Nawrath also had a penalty loop and fell back to fourth place – no medal for the German quartet. Finally, France came second.
Race brought forward due to cold
The relay had been brought forward by two and a half hours to avoid the freezing cold. Even so, it was minus 15 degrees at the start.
The German biathlon men had previously achieved various top ten places in Beijing, but had also remained without a medal in the three previous competitions. The last competition on Friday is the 15-kilometer mass start.