Laura Dahlmeier was an exception, as was Magdalena Neuner. Both won gold medals at junior world championships and made it to the top of the world in their early 20s. But such athletes are rare. Most need longer to establish themselves in the concert of the best. Some fail entirely.
A good performance in the juniorWM can still be a first step on the way to a successful biathlon career. Especially this year. Running until March 3rd in Soldier Hollow, USA on the 2002 Olympic courses.
This becomes challenging for a number of reasons. “The special challenges are the altitude (1700 m), cold temperatures and the time difference”said DSV-Young boss Zibi Szlufcik before the start of the title fights. In addition, there are the difficult Olympic courses with steep climbs and a wind-prone shooting range.
Objective: medal places fulfilled promptly
The German Ski Association had great expectations of the WM gone. “We want to knock on the door of the world leaders and fight for the medal spots.”said Szlufcik shortly before the high point of the year.
Goal accomplished, one might think after the first race of the juniors, because Lisa Marie Spark impressively demonstrated her class at the start in the singles. The 21-year-old from Ruhpolding rewarded herself with a gold medal for a strong race. Spark, who has been in the show a number of times this season IBU-Cup and convinced with eighth place in the sprint in Osrblie, only failed to clear one of 20 discs, also excelled on the cross-country ski run and was the fastest after 12.5 kilometers in 39:53.4 minutes.
Switch Spark: biathlon instead of alpine
She only got into biathlon at the age of 12, before that she was an alpine ski racer. When the effort there became too great, she changed saddles and apparently backed the right horse. Olympia 2026 is her big long-term goal, she revealed in an interview with Sportschau.
Mareike Braun (DAV Ulm/1 mistake/ +1:36.8 minutes) also convinced in fourth place. Johanna Puff and Luise Müller, the second and third place winners from the IBU-Junior Cup Total Score, failed to finish in the top 20 after three and five penalties respectively.
Juniors with problems at the shooting range
Things didn’t go so well for the four nominated juniors. Best of the DSVQuartet became a “Peiffer fan”, Hans Köllner (WSV Clausthal-Zellerfeld) as 20th. Christoph Noack (SG Klotzsche/38th), Darius Lodl (SV Hermsdorf/39th) and Frederik Madersbacher (Nesselwang/42nd) were behind poor performances at the shooting range significantly removed from the top positions.
Lodl is definitely a candidate for a good result on the big one WM-Stage, even if it didn’t work out in the first competition. in the IBU-Junior Cup, he conquered five podium places and was crowned champion in the European Junior Championships together with Johanna Puff this year single mixed-Series.
First the Olympics, then the Junior World Championships
However, the competition in the most important title fights of the year is significantly greater. In the USA, 139 women and 169 men from 33 national associations are at the start. Very few of them will probably run for Olympic medals at some point.
But some were already able to get a taste of Olympic experience. Four male and three female athletes from the current starting field were there in Beijing. Campbell Wright from New Zealand, who was 15th in the World Cup this season, made the strongest impression and was able to qualify for the mass start in Antholz. In the individual he finished sixth. The Czech Jonas Marecek secured victory over 15 kilometers.
Junior World Champion of 2021 without World Cup participation
An interesting statistic shows how difficult the way to the top is. From 2007 to 2017, 24 German talents who won a total of 36 medals at major events did not make it into the World Cup team in the end.
A gold medal at a juniorWM is therefore a success, but still no guarantee of an equally golden future. Last year Philipp Lipowitz ran from DAV Ulm to gold in the individual. He hoped in vain to start in the World Cup team. The 22-year-old junior athlete of the year came at least in IBU-Cup, but only finished in the top 20 once.
competition much further
While the biathletes in Norway and Sweden regularly have young talent knocking on the door of the world elite, there is a lack of young talent in Germany. Since Laura Dahlmeier, no young biathlete has made it to the top. Other nations are much further along. This is also due to other philosophies. In Norway, for example, no athlete is allowed to IBU-Cup that is older than 25 years. This is how the young athletes gain experience.
In Germany it is different. It is calculated based on results and performance. Despite her 34 years in the World Cup, Franziska Hildebrand was given preference over young talents because she was currently more powerful. An age limit in IBUThere is no cup either. That doesn’t make it easy for young athletes, especially since there is significantly more internal competition in Germany than in other nations.