The coronavirus is currently circulating in the biathlon circus. After DSV ski hunters Franziska Preuß and Hanna Kebinger, among others, recently missed the World Cup in Austria due to a Covid infection, the competition has now also been hit.
As soon as the World Cup in Hochfilzen was history, reports of cancellations to the meeting in Lenzerheide increased. After the Frenchwoman Lou Jeanmonnot, the Norwegian Marthe Kråkstad Johansen will also be missing, as the Norwegian association announced on Monday afternoon. Again, a Covid infection is the reason.
Johansen shared a picture of a positive test result on Instagram. The 24-year-old then isolated herself from her teammates.
“It is of course very sad and we would have liked to have had them there in Lenzerheide,” says Per Arne Botnan, sports director of the Norwegian Biathlon Association. Johansen will be replaced in Switzerland by Karoline Erdal, who recently achieved great results in the second-tier IBU Cup.
Erdal has earned a World Cup nomination
Botnan said: “Karoline is leading the women’s IBU Cup and has performed very well so far this season. We look forward to welcoming her to the team and wish Marthe a speedy recovery in the meantime.”
The Norwegians are traveling to Lenzerheide with Juni Arnekleiv, Karoline Knotten, Marit Ishol Skogan, Emilie Kalkenberg, Karoline Erdal and Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold. A change to a possible season line-up does not necessarily have to be made for the time being due to Johansen’s absence. In Hochfilzen, the Norwegians with Arnekleiv, Knotten, Skogan and Tandrevold won superiorly ahead of Sweden and France.
Meanwhile, the German team is on high alert after the many failures. “It’s a big challenge because you have to protect yourself in a world in which nobody is really careful anymore,” said biathlon sports director Felix Bitterling recently to the “German Press Agency” at the World Cup in Hochfilzen, Austria: “We’re trying to to isolate yourself and have hardly any contact with the outside world, but there are always situations in which outside contact is there.”