Franziska Preuß and Justin Braisaz-Bouchet fought a close sprint race in Annecy, France. In the end, the Frenchwoman was 1.4 seconds ahead.
In the biathlon mecca of Annecy on Friday, thousands of biathlon fans lined the route and cheered when the targets fell in the stadium. Especially those of the French stars around Justin Braisaz-Bouchet and Julia Simon.
Braisaz-Bouchet makes it exciting
However, Simon received two penalties, but Braisaz-Bouchet quickly raised hopes of a win. However, the 28-year-old missed a target while standing. The chance for the currently best German to achieve their second success of the season?
Preuß, winner of the sprint in Hochfilzen and Annecy in the yellow/red jersey of the overall World Cup leaders and best in the Sprint World Cup, approached the race in a controlled manner. Also to clear all the targets at the shooting range. Ten shots, ten hits, so the 30-year-old was able to take on Braisaz-Bouchet, who had clocked 21:19.2 minutes. But in the end it wasn’t enough to win by 1.4 seconds, but the Bavarian confidently defended the yellow jersey.
Grotian and Voigt impressed with top results
Selina Grotian (0/1) was also strong, only 20.1 seconds behind the winner. “That makes me really positive“. She had a little doubt in the last few days. But “I am very pleased to now have a zero.” With fifth place, she also broke the World Cup standard. With Vanessa Voigt (0/0), another DSV starter stormed into the top ten. She came sixth behind Grotian.
Anna Weidel returned to the World Cup after a year off. Although she made no mistakes, she lost too much time on the track. She was “a little disappointed that it didn’t go so smoothly.”Julia Tannheimer (1/1) cost her two penalties a better place in the list.