Women’s biathlon sprint
Preuß misses the podium in the home race – Öberg takes victory
January 16, 2026 – 3:49 p.mReading time: 1 min.
Franziska Preuß shows great improvement in her World Cup home game. The world champion hits all the targets in the sprint, but that’s still not enough for the podium.
Biathlon world champion Franziska Preuß missed her first podium place of the season at the World Cup home game in Ruhpolding despite a faultless race. Three weeks before the start of the Winter Olympics, the 31-year-old took fifth place as the best German in her home town. After 7.5 kilometers in the sprint, last year’s overall World Cup winner was 16.5 seconds behind winner Hanna Öberg from Sweden, who also had no penalties. The French Lou Jeanmonnot took second place ahead of the Italian Lisa Vittozzi.
For Preuß it is already the third fifth place in an individual competition this winter. The eleven-time World Cup medalist only made it onto the podium in third place in Oberhof in the relay.
In the relay in Ruhpolding, Preuß had previously given up a possible podium place as the last runner with a penalty loop, but in the end she only finished sixth on Wednesday. The standing shooting in a direct duel between woman and woman is currently putting too much pressure on her, and Preuß had also shown unusual weaknesses in the relay in Oberhof the previous week. In the sprint she hit all ten targets safely again.
