analysis
Oberhof had to wait 19 years for a World Cup comeback. The first week already offered something spectacular: From party hits, the German face of the World Cup and a Norwegian superiority.
Herrmann-Wick carries the German team
Sports show commentator Thomas Kunze formulated the following – of course exaggerated – thesis with a view to the first week of the World Cup in Oberhof: “From a German perspective there are three topics – Denise, Herrmann and Wick.” The largest biathlon event in Oberhof is quite so monothematic Thuringia, of course, not since 2004, but there is still a lot of truth at its core. So far it has been the Hermann Wick Festival. With gold in the sprint and silver in the pursuit, the 34-year-old secured the only medals of the German Ski Association so far. It was then celebrated by thousands not only in the stadium but also on the so-called Medal Plaza in Oberhof. “Walking through the spectators to the medal ceremony is unbelievable – a feeling you can’t get enough of.”
It is clear that Hermann-Wick fulfilled her own dream with the successes. The fact that the outstanding performances are also important for the entire German team can be felt and heard. “It’s nice for the team to experience that. On the other hand, the greatest pressure is now gone because there is a result,” states Johannes Kühn.
The pressure at this home World Cup is enormous for the German athletes. Having a figurehead like Denise Herrmann-Wick in the team, who marches ahead and in whose shadow also tolerates weaker results, or even better, young athletes with strong performances can flourish, can still be of great benefit to the Germans in the second half of the World Cup become of paramount importance.
The German women are in good shape – with one exception
The three most important numbers of the women’s pursuit race ahead: 2nd, 5th, 8th. These are the placings of Denise Hermann-Wick, Sophia Schneider and Hanna Kebinger. An outstanding team result and a pointer towards the second week – and above all towards the season. Sophia Schneider, who impresses both in terms of skiing and shooting at her first world championships, is self-confident after her pursuer. “At a World Cup, only medals count in the end. There are still chances, even with the relay – I think it will be a super cool relay.” In which the Germans can have legitimate hopes of a medal.
A drop of bitterness remains in the women’s team. Vanessa Voigt, who grew up not far from Oberhof and has raced across the Arena am Rennsteig cross-country ski trails since early childhood, finds herself in a form crisis at the wrong time. It started with an unsatisfactory mixed relay, continued with a botched sprint and 41st place and took the previous finish point in the pursuit – 46th place. Too imprecise with the rifle, currently too slow on the cross-country ski run – that’s the hard thing though correct judgement. With a view to the season, the place of Vanessa Voigt, who has been set so far, could shake enormously.
Benedikt Doll – fallen and rose again in a big way
Wobble is a good keyword: Benedikt Doll is not only known for his extraordinary running style, which is often described with the adjective “wobble”, the best German in the overall World Cup also started this home World Cup extremely shaky. In the mixed relay, he had a huge part in the disappointing performance of the DSV quartet (sixth place) with one penalty loop. In the sprint, his weakness on the shooting range continued seamlessly. The sobering result: five penalties and 55th place. “My shooting was wild, a total disaster,” reported a visibly distressed Doll afterwards. “You don’t train for 20 years for that.”
The really special thing about this story about Benedikt Doll at the Biathlon World Cup was yet to come. Millions watching television witnessed self-therapy in the persecution – almost a kind of catharsis. Doll worked his way up from 55th place – in the end it was an incredible 40 places. Later, the 32-year-old Black Forester continued to look for explanations – and said on ZDF: “It could be due to my sea performance. I have a bit of astigmatism. If you open up the aperture and more light comes in, the picture just gets blurrier. Then maybe I thought I was in the center, but I wasn’t.”
And the most important thing: with just two penalties, Germany’s “Capitano”, as teammate Roman Rees calls him, regained his confidence at the shooting range. “It’s always easy to celebrate success, to deal with defeat – that’s the art. And I did that quite well today,” said Doll in the interview, which was noticeably relieved. “It works,” he later wrote on his Instagram channel. The second week of the World Cup could be a kind of restart for Doll.
Run a lot, shoot a lot and in the end a Norwegian wins
Their dominance is almost overwhelming, the Norwegian men have dominated these title fights at will so far, only leaving a bronze medal to the competition. In the sprint there was a triple victory, even five athletes among the top six. In the pursuit, gold and silver went to the Scandinavians, led by the dominator Johannes Thingnes, who has won the last eight individual races in a row.
His successor to the throne, Stura Holm Laegreid, is almost equal. He is sometimes overshadowed by the overall World Cup leader, but is just as far ahead of the competition. “It’s annoying, I have to say. How many times have we seen the combination of Bö and Laegreid. It’s frustrating how compactly they set themselves apart from the whole field,” said Roman Rees after the pursuit race.
And then there’s the mixed relay, which mainly thanks to the two men – Boe and Lagreid – won the opening gold. The reservoir of athletes seems large, because even the second guard, who did not travel to this World Cup, could run for the medals.
“The train has no brakes”
No matter what may come, the party hit will remain the song of these world championships and it was staged by an ex-athlete and today’s sports show expert— Erik Lesser. At the opening ceremony, the two-time world champion greeted the German team on the Medal Plaza in the Kurpark as a laudator with this hit. The organizer had actually flirted with Andreas Bourani’s “cheers to us”, but Lesser spontaneously decided for “the train”.
Since then it has been thundering through the loudspeakers in the Arena am Rennsteig, also to the delight of Denise Herrmann-Wick. “It’s good that our song became a bit of day-to-day business today,” said the 34-year-old after her success in the sprint. “You can shout along and that just relaxes me. It is the optimal preparation for and follow-up to a competition”.
So it was no wonder that after the 34-year-old had won both medals, the entire German team crawled through the stadium in a kind of caterpillar while the fans in the stands sang along. But that’s not all, also in the evening on the Medal Plaza, the train rolled down the catwalk – with a waving German flag as a locomotive and several DSV athletes as wagons attached, which could collect more medals. “We were there in all relays in the World Cup, just not on the podium once, so we won’t run in fifth place at the World Championships with the handbrake on, but something is also possible here in the individual and in the mass starts,” explained a satisfied sports director Felix Bitterling at half time.