Marlene Fichtner has already impressively demonstrated that she is a good shooter at the Biathlon World Cup, but really strong results usually prevent the 22-year-old from achieving manageable results on the cross-country ski trails, as was the case recently in Hochfilzen. In the IBU Cup, however, Fichtner has now submitted an application to return to the elite league of ski hunters.
In the clear victory of the Frenchwoman Sophie Chauveau, who dominated the competition and made no shooting mistakes, the German biathlon hope Marlene Fichtner narrowly missed the podium on Thursday. In the shortened individual over 12.5 kilometers, Fichtner finished fourth (0 errors/+1:34.5 minutes).
Bitter: Not even a second separated the 2025 European relay champion from the Swede Emma Nilsson, who was placed ahead of her (0 errors/+1:33.7). Second place went to Anna Hedström (0 errors/+59.9 seconds), also a Swede.
Fichtner should be particularly encouraged by its running time. The ski hunter from SC Traunstein was only beaten by 14 other athletes on the course, only Chauveau ran in a completely different league, she beat Fichtner by 1:30.3 minutes and was 37.7 seconds behind the second best runner, Sophia Schneider from DSV.
Overall, DSV biathletes make too many mistakes
Speaking of Schneider: The two-time World Cup medalist in the relay missed a really top result due to three shooting errors, but came in tenth (+2:53.6 minutes) and did impressively. Between Fichtner and Schneider, Julia Kink (2 errors/+2:36.6 minutes) placed seventh as the second best DSV biathlete.
Hanna Kebinger, who is also experienced in the World Cup, unfortunately missed a whopping five targets and only reached 31st place (+5:29.4 minutes), Mareike Braun even missed seven shots and had to be content with 42nd place (+6:41.5 minutes). Melina Gaupp (7 errors/+8:08.2) only finished in a disappointing 65th place.
It continues in Arber on Saturday, when the women’s and men’s sprints are on the program, followed by the hunting races on Sunday.