Good news for DSV
German biathlon star back in the World Cup
Updated 12/16/2025 – 4:36 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Franziska Preuß recently had to take a break due to illness. Now she’s back again. Another biathlete, however, still has to be patient.
Franziska Preuß returns to the Biathlon World Cup. The 31-year-old replaces Marlene Fichtner in the German squad in the last race of the year in Le Grand-Bornand. This was announced by the German Ski Association.
Preuss recently had to take a break due to illness. “I got influenza & Corona,” she wrote on Instagram. Now she is back in the squad in France.
The women’s sprint takes place on Thursday (from 2:15 p.m. in the live ticker on t-online). The pursuit follows on Saturday and the mass start on Sunday. The Christmas break then begins before the races in Oberhof continue in January. At the latest, the focus will increasingly be on the 2026 Olympics.
On the way to Le Grand-Bornand, Preuß sat in the electric car for around nine hours. She shared the 759.8 kilometer route on social media and wrote: “Done”. Thanks to the sponsor car, the journey was easy to endure, she said. Last year she won the pursuit at the same place and came second in the sprint and mass start – behind her teammate Selina Grotian, who is not at the start this time either.
After her cancellation in Hochfilzen due to illness, it comes too early for the 21-year-old for Le Grand-Bornand. “Unfortunately,” said sports director Felix Bitterling in a statement from the association, “it wasn’t enough for her to be fully fit again by Le Grand-Bornand. The focus is now on getting her back to the absolute top level by Oberhof so that she can have a strong start in the World Cups in the new year, especially with a view to the upcoming Olympic qualification.” The Winter Olympics will take place from February 6th to 22nd, 2026 in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.