The German biathlon team was unable to win a medal on the first day of the World Championships in Nove Mesto. In the mixed relay on Wednesday (February 7th, 2024), Franziska Preuß became a tragic figure from a German perspective when France won.
France won its first title at the Biathlon World Championships in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. The “Grande Nation” team prevailed in the mixed relay despite one penalty and nine spares against Norway (0 penalties + 8 spares/+45.2 seconds) and Sweden (0+10/1:06.4 minutes). .
The German quartet with Justus Strelow, Philipp Nawrath, Franziska Preuß and Vanessa Voigt was still in the lead until the third-to-last shooting and was sniffing the sensation. But Preuss’s legs gave out at the shooting range. So it was only enough for fifth place (1+9/+1:32.0 min).
Preuß: “Thighs were just shaking”
The German team’s disappointment was clear to see in the finish area. “Somehow the lactate got into me“, Preuß then tried to explain her mistake in the standing shooting. She came to the shooting as the leader and was “extremely tense“, as she said on the sports show microphone. But she was not able to use this tension positively. “My thighs were just shaking. I feel really sorry for the other three“, Preuss apologized to her teammates.
Strelow does what he’s supposed to do
With Justus Strelow, the German team had put their best shooter in first position. And this plan initially worked. The 27-year-old fired five shots in just under 20 seconds and was the first back on the track. Switzerland and Norway followed at a small distance. On the short two-kilometer lap, Tarjei Bö was able to run almost eight seconds. The other pursuers weren’t far away either.
While standing, Strelow was the fastest again and knocked down all five targets. Bö needed a few extra cartridges and fell behind France, Switzerland and Kazakhstan. On the way to the change, Strelow was caught by Eric Perrot, so France and Germany handed over to the second runner almost at the same time.
Nawrath very strong on the cross-country ski trail
Philipp Nawrath and Quentin Fillon Maillet now had to defend themselves against Johannes Thingnes Bö, who was in pursuit almost 16 seconds behind. By the time shooting came, the Norwegian superstar had halved the deficit and put the leading duo under pressure. But Nawrath remained unfazed and made no mistakes. Fillon Maillet and Bö, on the other hand, had to reload once. Nawrath’s lead grew to 13 and 23 seconds respectively.
Nawarath was able to keep his lead stable, but the 30-year-old from Ruhpolding started to tremble during the standing stage. After three errors, he had to take the last shot and that’s what he did. Because Fillon Maillet got through with one spare, the cushion shrank to six seconds. Bö was also able to avoid the penalty in the last shot, but was now almost half a second behind. On the way to the next change, Nawrath confirmed his strong running performance, increased the gap again and now handed over to Franziska Preuß with an eight-second lead. The Norwegian team was still half a minute behind.
Preuss and the trembling when shooting
The Frenchwoman Justine Braisaz-Bouchet quickly joined Preuß and together they went prone. Both athletes had serious problems and needed all three additional cartridges. While Preuß scored five goals, France had to go into the penalty loop. Norway and Switzerland were now the next pursuers.
Preuß got to the standing position with a lead, but again the target water was missing. This time she couldn’t avoid the penalty loop. To make matters worse, she stumbled while leaving the shooting range and ended up lying in the snow. After the additional round, the 29-year-old was only in fifth place. The gap to the now leading Norwegian Karoline Knotten was 28 seconds. In between were Switzerland, France and Sweden. She lost another nine seconds before the last change.
Voigt cannot close the gap
This meant that the mortgage for Vanessa Voigt was 37 seconds, which even increased to almost a minute by the time she was prone. Since the leaders didn’t allow themselves any mistakes, Voigt was unable to make up any time despite five hits. France now led Norway by almost half a minute.
Voigt continued to have a hard time on the deep, rain-soaked track and lost further ground. So before the last shooting she had to hope for a few failures from those in front of her in order to still have a chance at a medal. But that didn’t happen. The Frenchwoman Julia Simon confidently won the title. Behind them, Norway and Sweden won the other medals. Voigt couldn’t get close anymore.