Linn Kazmaier writes the first German fairy tale at the Paralympics. At the age of 15 years and exactly four months, the biathlete won silver.
Linn Kazmaier didn’t know what to do with her feelings after her sensational feat. Ecstasy, pride, bewilderment – all this mixed up after the best race of her life so far. Even Friedhelm Julius Beucher, the experienced and eloquent President of the German Disabled Sports Association (DBS), who has seen almost everything, almost ran out of superlatives in this historic achievement.
“I thought that can’t be true,” said the 75-year-old to the sports information service: “What strength, will and natural talent this girl has. I’m delighted.” For Kazmaier, Beijing is “hopefully just a stopover on the way to a very successful future.” After the surprising second place together with guide Florian Baumann in Zhangjiakou’s fridge, that’s to be expected.
At only 15 years and four months, the woman from the Black Forest is not only the youngest German participant in Beijing and the second youngest ever – she also crowned herself as the youngest German medalist at the Winter Games in the biathlon sprint over 6 km. Only swimmer Yvonne Hopf was younger when she won medals in Barcelona in 1992 at the age of 14 at the Paralympics from a German perspective.
She had already “dreamed” of precious metal, Kazmaier told “SID”: “But not that it works now, but sometime with 20 or so. I didn’t expect that at all.” Its enormous potential has been apparent for some time. Because of a congenital cone dystrophy and nystagmus, Kazmaier only sees blurry, shaky images. She has to wear sunglasses all the time, otherwise everything looks like she’s staring at a glacier in the sun.
A taster course at Notschrei in 2015 sparked her love for Nordic sports. “I remember chattering away for the whole two-and-a-half hour drive home, I was so excited,” she recalls. Already at the World Championships in Lillehammer, the student was sixth best non-Russian twice. After their exclusion because of the aggressive war in Ukraine, they grabbed their chance by the forelock.
“I’m really happy, but I still can’t really believe it,” said Kazmaier. Without the one shooting error, it would have been gold at minus 10 degrees and in gusty winds. The somewhat shy teenager can still catch up in the remaining competitions in cross-country skiing and biathlon – that would no longer surprise anyone.