Johannes Kühn made it to the podium in the fog race in Antholz. Youngster Danilo Riethmüller made an impressive World Cup debut.
In Antholz the biathletes are challenged at an altitude of 1,600 meters, which is why only a short individual run was run shortly before the World Championships for reasons of load control. However, over the 15 instead of 20 kilometers, increasing fog caused problems for the ski hunters. The error rate increased, which had a direct impact on the time, as 45 seconds were added for each error.
Despite the adverse conditions, Johannes Kühn managed a strong race, making no mistakes until the last shooting. However, two more shots missed. Nevertheless, it was enough for Bayern to make it onto the podium in third place. Kühn was annoyed that he missed twice more.
The victory went to a completely unimpressed Johannes Thingnes Bö. The Norwegian confidently cleared all 20 targets and showed once again that he is a force to be reckoned with even in fog. His best time was 37 minutes and 28 seconds. Second place went to his brother Tarjei Bö.
Youngster Riethmüller runs into the top ten
Danilo Riethmüller, who came into the team to replace the ill Philipp Horn, delivered a strong World Cup debut. With just one mistake, he was able to recommend himself for further tasks in a strong seventh place.
Roman Rees, who had won the only individual in Östersund so far, also finished in tenth place with two errors. Justus Strelow made it through with three mistakes, but that was only enough for 29th place in the field. At first he didn’t realize that there was a wind at the shooting range. “Of course that annoys him.”
Nawrath and Doll shoot better results
Philipp Nawrath (5 errors) also picked up a lot of penalty time in the DSV team. It was almost four minutes for the Allgäu player. “It was a good start,” said Nawrath happily, even though he didn’t make it into the top group in front of a big crowd. Teammate Benedikt Doll even picked up a pack of six missed shots. This meant that the Black Forester could only get a place outside the top 20. Time penalty for missed shots.
Individual shooting is done lying-standing-lying-standing. In the event of missed shots, there is no penalty lap, but rather a time penalty, which is taken into account immediately. Since five kilometers less were run, it was 45 seconds instead of 60 seconds.
The races in Antholz are the last performance test before the World Championships (February 4th – 18th) in Nove Mesto. If you don’t have a ticket yet, you can still pick it up here.
Instead of horn, it will now be used at the World Cup dress rehearsal in Italy. The 24-year-old, who won the mass start in the second-class IBU Cup in Ridnaun last weekend, is celebrating his World Cup debut for the DSV team in the 15-kilometer race.