A tailor-made start for the German biathletes at the home World Cup in Oberhof: Benedikt Doll distances the Norwegian Bö in the sprint – and the entire international competition.
The start of the Biathlon World Cup in Oberhof was a day late – both from the organizer’s perspective and as an athlete in the German team. Benedikt Doll prevailed in the men’s ten kilometer sprint, which was postponed from Thursday to Friday due to the difficult weather conditions – it was already his second World Cup victory of the winter after the sprint success in Lenzerheide.
As in December, Doll won this time ahead of a Norwegian – but not ahead of fourth-placed Johannes Thingnes Bö (19.6 seconds back/2 shooting errors). But with a mini lead over the returnee Sturla Holm Laegreid (1.8 sec./1), whose rifle fired a shot during dry training in Lenzerheide and who then had to leave. Behind them, Bös and Laegreid’s compatriot Endre Stroemsheim took third place (5.4 sec./1).
Doll defies shooting errors – and impresses on the cross-country ski trail
Doll even missed his last shot of the day. But this time, for once, that didn’t bother him too much; in the end, his running skills were impressive again. When he completed his last strokes on the home straight, there was a huge cheer in the stadium for the first time. With his home win, the Black Forest native also moves up from eighth place in the overall World Cup.
But it wasn’t just Doll who was happy from a German perspective. The flawless Lower Bavarian Johannes Kühn in fifth (29.8 seconds) and Philipp Nawrath in eleventh also celebrated respectable results (49 seconds/2). “Respect for my roommates”said Nawrath about Doll’s performance in the sports show. Justus Strelow also achieved a top 15 result thanks to his ten goals. “Today they managed the route very well, the route was firm for the conditions”he said. “The conditions were good during training yesterday, better today.”
Fog over the atmospheric arena
Actually, a lot of things on this Friday seemed the same as they always do at the home World Cup on Rennsteig: there was a little fog over the atmospheric arena, but unlike in some other years, this white band ran through the Thuringian Forest and over the green hills there. The cross-country ski run stood out a little more this time, also because there were still brown spots mixed into its whiteness, which also led to international criticism.
But it wasn’t just Strelow who expressed himself positively, the people of Oberhof also got the Lange under control thanks to their snow depots. This is a model for securing the Biathlon World Cups in the Thuringian Forest in the future.