Voigt with impeccable shooting
First runner Vanessa Voigt did her job very well and showed a courageous performance. The 24-year-old took her time shooting – and it paid off. Voigt remained flawless, and the Thuringian also impressed in terms of skiing. As the leader, Voigt handed over to Vanessa Hinz – ahead of Sweden (0.5 seconds) and Italy (1.5 seconds).
“Dhat was exactly what I dreamed of that night, handing over in first place”, said Voigt in an interview with the sports show. And further: “As Markus Eisenbichler said so beautifully: We really want the shitty medal today.”
Hinz and Preuss with reloaders
Hinz, who has boosted confidence in the pursuit as she improves from 55 to 21, cleaned in prone. In standing, the Bavarian had to reload twice for the last shot – the German squadron lost time because Hinz also missed time on the cross-country ski run. “The final lap was a fight. I’m rarely really blue – but today I was. I gave everything, there was nothing more in my body“said the 29-year-old.
Franziska Preuss started the six-kilometer course in fourth place, 46 seconds behind the Russian Olympic Committee. Almost 20 seconds were missing on the podium. Preuss shot quickly – but like Hinz had to reload twice, but was able to reduce the gap to the top to 37 seconds.
The Bavarian only got fit at the Olympics after a foot injury and a corona infection and has finally – like Hinz and Voigt – won her first Olympic medal. “We’re really happy. It’s very emotional for everyone, including the team behind the team‘ said Preuss.
Herrmann strong in the cross-country ski run
Olympic champion Denise Herrmann was the final runner. And she really put her foot down on the first lap and was able to close the gap on Russia and Italy. In contrast to Herrmann, Uliana Nigmatulina and Federica Sanfilippo remained flawless in prone – the 33-year-old had to reload once. At the top was Elvira Öberg with a lead of 26 seconds – and the Swede secured the gold medal in the final standing stage.
But who will win the other medals? Herrmann and Nigmatulina had to reload – ten seconds separated the German from the Russian. Herrmann gave it his all again on the cross-country ski trail – but was unable to catch up. The Russian was too strong on the final lap.
Medal in “Team won”
“We are super happy. The medal was our big goal, we swore to that as a team”, said women’s head coach Kristian Mehringer on ARD and was happy about the team performance: “We won the medal today as a team.”