The German women’s relay team missed the hoped-for jump onto the podium at the end of the Biathlon World Cup in Oberhof. At the race on Sunday (January 7th, 2024), the quartet of Vanessa Voigt, Janina Hettich-Walz, Sophia Schneider and Franziska Preuß didn’t have much together on the track or at the shooting range. So in the final tally it was only enough for fifth place.
In cold and windy conditions in the Thuringian Forest, which caused some problems for the athletes, especially at the shooting range, the French women (0 penalties + 12 spare rounds) had the best nerves and strongest legs. They won ahead of Norway (0+10/+9.3 seconds) and Sweden (1+8/+33.5 seconds).
The ski hunters from the German Ski Association (DSV) were outside the podium ranks from the first shooting and lost sight of this round after round. They finished fifth, more than four minutes behind (3+15/+4:20.6 min.). With Schneider’s penalty in the fifth shooting stage, hopes were gone.
Voigt can’t quite keep up with the leaders
Voigt, who was the DSV team’s third starting runner in the third relay race of the season, led the field together with the other favorites to the first shooting in front of almost 20,000 spectators at the Grenzadler. There the 26-year-old, who was born in Schmalkalden just 20 kilometers as the crow flies from the biathlon arena, bought a spare and was able to maintain her place in the top group of six.
There the Norwegian Juni Arnekleiv pushed the pace and opened up a gap to her opponents. Voigt was unable to maintain the pace of the top runners, especially on the legendary Birxsteig, and came to the standing stop almost 16 seconds behind the leader. There, Voigt shot quite slowly, missed the last shot, but brought the spare into the target. However, her gap to the now leading Frenchwoman Lou Jeanmonnot remained the same.
Hettich-Walz continues to fall behind
In fourth place, Voigt handed over to Janina Hettich-Walz, who set off in pursuit of Sweden, France and Norway. She lost another five seconds before the prone stage and also missed two shots. She was now half a second behind the Swede Linn Persson, who was the only one of the top trio without a spare.
Hettich-Walz continued to lose ground on the route and was unable to make up time even in the standing position with two more spares. On the contrary: She was now 54 seconds behind Persson, who was able to pull away from France and Norway. From a German perspective, the podium was almost half a minute away.
Schneider has to go into the penalty loop
Sophia Schneider was the third German starter to enter the cross-country ski trail, just under a minute behind. France was now at the front again, as Justine Braisaz-Bouchet was able to catch up to Persson by 25 seconds on the way to the changeover. Her compatriot Hanna Öberg then incurred the first penalty lap in the leading group. So the door was open for Schneider, but she couldn’t take advantage of this opportunity. Here too, the three additional cartridges were not enough to move all the panes. She also had to go into the extra loop. This put her in sixth place, 2:08 minutes behind the leader Sophie Chauveau from France and almost 80 seconds behind the last podium place.
Even standing, Schneider added two more spares, the deficit on France continued to grow (+2:40.5 minutes), and the top 3 place was now more than two minutes away. In addition to France, Norway (+27.1 seconds) and France (+34.5 seconds) remained there. Since she continued to lose time on the route, she handed over to the final runner Preuß, three minutes behind.
Also Preuß with extra rounds
By the time Preuß had fired her six shots while lying down, France had already been back on track for 3:20 minutes. At least the DSV athlete was able to push past Switzerland and make up a place.
At the last shooting, things got a little exciting at the front. Julia Simon had to reload three times and her Norwegian opponent Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold only had to reload once, so she reduced the gap to twelve seconds. Preuß herself could have launched an attack on fourth place, as the Italian had to complete three penalty laps in front of her. But Preuß also missed five shots and had to spin twice. But she was able to maintain fifth place.