The Czech Marketa Davidova celebrates her first World Cup victory since 2021 in the Kontiolathi sprint. Franziska Preuß missed the podium by the blink of an eye.
Franziska Preuß and starting number 54 – that seems to be a strong combination. After all, the strongest German biathlete already wore the number in the opening individual event last week and came fifth.
Now she has also received number 54 in the second race – and thus achieved another strong result. On Saturday (December 7th, 2024) she took fourth place in the first sprint of the season over 7.5 kilometers in Kontiolahti. She missed the podium by just a tenth of a second.
“Sure, the placement is good, but I’m annoyed about the one mistake.”she said in the Sportschau interview. “I gave it my all. It really annoys me that it’s 0.1 seconds again. Luck could be on my side.”
Davidova celebrates first success since 2021
Despite the short-term annoyance, one thing is certain: the Upper Bavarian, who had to miss last weekend due to an infection, made a strong comeback in the Biathlon World Cup. “It gives you a good feeling knowing that you can be on the podium on day X if everything goes right and you hit all the targets.”she said.
Behind the Czech Marketa Davidova, who celebrated her first World Cup success since November 27, 2021, the Swede Elvira Öberg (8.8 seconds back) and Suvi Minkkinen (+ 11.9) from Finland, fourth place is a remarkable result, especially since Unlike Davidova and Minkkinen, Preuß also made a shooting error. Minkkinen reached the podium for the first time in her career.
Tannheimer runs far forward
Julia Tannheimer, who has only been part of the World Cup squad since this winter, also had a real sense of achievement. The 19-year-old from Ulm, who is already an extremely fast runner, made no mistakes at the shooting range and came sixth. “The zero is there and that was the most important thing for me”she said in the Sportschau interview.
She also qualified for the following mass start on Sunday (from 5:10 p.m. in the Sportschau live ticker). She has already achieved the World Cup standard in the second individual race.
Voigt, Kink and Grotian make too many mistakes
Vanessa Voigt, ninth in the individual, had more problems at the shooting range this time. With two errors she only managed 36th place. “I felt a bit heavy today, it wasn’t as easy as in the relay races and the individual”said Voigt in the Sportschau interview.
And it was also an evening to forget for the two young German athletes Julia Kink and Selina Grotian – they collected two and four mistakes respectively and were a long way behind the leaders.