After the weak collective performance in the sprint, the German relay team was also unable to shine in Antholz. Until the final runner there was still hope for third place on Saturday (January 25th, 2025), but in the end the DSV quartet only finished seventh. As in every relay race this season, France took the victory.
The sprint on Friday in Antholz showed that the form of the German biathlon men is currently not good, in contrast to the women’s, where Frankziska Preuß is once again running onto the podium in rows. And just looking at the rankings of the four Germans who started the relay a day later made it clear how high the expectations could be.
Starting runner Justus Strelow was 49th, his successor Philipp Horn in eleventh place was still the best German, Johannes Kühn took 40th place and final runner David Zobel only ended up in 53rd place. Accordingly, it was made clear in advance that after third place Ruhpolding another podium place was rather illusory. And that’s actually how it was.
Strelow is not satisfied with his own performance
Strelow started strong and finished first in his first shooting. He missed his tenth shot and had to reload once, but he remained in the top group. The 28-year-old had big problems on the cross-country ski trail, so he only handed over to the leading Norwegian team in seventh place with 31.6 seconds and Kühn on the podium with 23.1 seconds and was not at all satisfied.
“That’s not what I imagine. I actually made up for it at the shooting range, but 30 seconds is too long, so I give Philipp a big mortgage.”said Strelow on ZDF. “I have to keep up better. I didn’t feel that physically fresh, even if the expectations aren’t necessarily high, a race like this still hurts.”
Boldly gives Germany hope for the podium again
With Horn, the gap to first place doubled, but he managed – also with the kind help of his opponents – to bring the podium back within reach. After a total of three spare rounds, Germany remained seventh, but the third-placed Italians were only 11.2 seconds away. Kühn and finally Zobel were still able to cause a surprise at that moment.
Like Strelow, Kühn was the only one from the Antholz team who was also there in Ruhpolding – and he got off to an excellent start. With a faultless prone stage, the 33-year-old worked his way up to fourth place and went on to the second round with Ukraine, who at that moment occupied third place on the podium. Kühn moved into third place and also remained stable in shooting and again without a spare.
Zobel fails at the shooting range
While France at the front was running towards its fourth victory in the fourth relay race after Eric Perrot had handed over to the final runner Emilien Jaquelin with 56.6 seconds ahead of Norway, behind them there was the big race for the podium – with German participation. Kühn sent Zobel into the last 7.5 kilometers in fifth place, 0.5 seconds behind the Czech Republic and 0.9 seconds behind Italy. Immediately behind, Sweden was also fighting for third place.
However, Zobel did not manage to stay in touch. Three spare rounds in the prone stage dashed the hopes of third place; at that moment all three opponents were ahead of the German team by almost 30 seconds. Things got even worse when Zobel used three spare rounds again, but left one target and had to go into the penalty loop.
Meanwhile, Sweden’s Sebastian Samuelsson was still chasing second place, where Norway’s Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen was struggling. But he held his own and saved half a meter – or 0.4 seconds – lead to the finish. Norway came second, 43.6 seconds behind France. Germany finished seventh, just 3:12.5 minutes after France.