The German biathletes will start the World Cup in Oslo without Franziska Preuß. The 29-year-old is still in poor health. For Preuß it is already the sixth competition-related cancellation this winter.
Preuß is suffering from symptoms of infection, said the German team doctor Katharina Blume on Wednesday (February 28, 2024). The infection became apparent at the World Championships two weeks ago in Nove Mesto. Although Preuss was able to “So far she has been making good use of her time to recover, but she is still ailing and not yet free of symptoms.” Therefore, to be on the safe side, we decided not to start in the individual on Thursday (2:15 p.m. in the Sportschau live ticker).
Next setback for Preuss
Preuß only fought her way back to the top of the world this winter after ending the previous season prematurely due to recurring health problems. In January she had to miss the World Cup in Antholz, which meant she was missing important competition practice for the World Cup.
There she achieved her best results in the individual races with two sixth places in the sprint and the pursuit. She also came fifth in the mixed relay. Preuß was actually scheduled for the relay, but at that point she was already struggling with a sore throat. Nevertheless, the German biathletes won bronze even without their most experienced athlete. At the mass start the following day, Preuß was visibly weakened and finished eleventh.
Hoping for the mass start
There are still nine competitions left until the end of the season, six of them overseas. Therefore one will “Decide from day to day when it makes sense to enter the World Cup“, said team doctor Blume. They are currently using every additional day to recover in the hope that Preuß can be there for the mass start on Saturday at Holmenkollen.
Their failure in Oslo is also bitter because Preuß, in fourth place and only eight points behind, would have had a good chance of winning the small crystal ball in the individual. In the overall World Cup, the former relay world champion is currently the best German in eighth place.