Franziska Preuß is back! At the start of the biathletes’ World Cup in Östersund on Sunday, the former world champion completely surprisingly came second in the individual after a long forced break. In the end, a tenth of a second was missing from victory. Vanessa Voigt and Sophia Schneider were also convincing across the board.
Only Lisa Vittozzi beat Preuss to her second World Cup victory by just 0.1 seconds. The Italian was able to get her penalty minute on the 15-kilometer route and was just slightly faster at the end.
“Of course the 0.1 seconds are annoying“said Preuß afterwards in the Sportschau interview.”But I’m super happy and can’t blame myself for much. Now a thousand stones fall down.“
Prussia without fault and blame
Preuss could indeed be satisfied. She delivered an impeccable performance at the shooting range and on the cross-country ski trail. The 29-year-old former world champion knocked down all 20 targets and only had to admit defeat to Vittozzi on the final lap.
“It was especially good at the shooting range“, said Preuß happily. She last stood on the podium in second place in the mass start in Oslo on March 20, 2022. She celebrated her only victory so far in the mass start in Ruhpolding on January 20, 2019.
Voigt and Schneider also shine
Vanessa Voigt also showed a great race and came third (+10 seconds). The Thuringian also made no mistakes and held the top position for a long time. For Voigt, after her second place in the Otepää sprint in March 2022, it is only the second podium in an individual race of her career. Sophia Schneider, who also made no mistakes, rounded off the strong German team result and came fifth (+1:01 minutes).
“We didn’t expect that“, said women’s coach Kristian Mehringer, a little astonished. “The girls did a great job. Of course we’re really happy about that. We are positive. Let’s see what happens in the next races.” With Preuß, Voigt and Schneider, three DSV athletes broke the World Cup standard in the first race.
Preuß even thought about ending his career
Preuß completely withdrew from the World Cup last season at the end of January due to health problems and also forewent the home World Cup in Oberhof. There was even talk of an end to his career. When she made her competitive comeback in September, she won three titles at the German championships. With her race in Östersund she finally showed that she is a force to be reckoned with again.
The fact that Preuss is a bench at the shooting range is nothing new. The fact that during her comeback she was also able to keep up with the world’s best on the cross-country ski trails came as a bit of a surprise. Her lead over Vittozzi was eleven seconds after the last shooting. That was almost enough to win, but she gradually lost time in the last few kilometers and had to admit defeat in the end.
Schneider was at the forefront for a long time
Sophia Schneider could almost have intervened in the fight for the lead. After three clear series in a row, she came to the shooting range with an 18-second lead over Vittozzi. But a false conclusion cost them a possible coup.
Janina Hettich-Walz made a total of three errors and finished 23rd, a good three minutes behind. Hanna Kebinger was unable to celebrate her 26th birthday and finished the competition in 38th place after also making three errors. Top talent Selina Grotian, who was at After causing a stir with four gold medals at the Junior World Championships last winter, he lost a good position with four errors in the first shooting and had to pay the lesson in 77th place after three errors and a gap of over seven minutes.
Saturday: Mixed relay just missed the podium
On Saturday, the German biathletes narrowly missed the podium in the mixed relays. Voigt and Schneider, together with Philipp Nawrath and Roman Rees, finished fourth in the mixed relay. Kebinger also had his sights set on third place in the single mixed with Justus Strelow until the last shooting, but was then pushed through to seventh place.