After a break from illness
“It was a fight”: Preuß books a ticket to the Olympics
December 21, 2025 – 2:45 p.mReading time: 1 min.
Franziska Preuß is slowly working her way back after her forced break. With improved performance, she books her ticket to the Olympics in the mass start race.
After her time out due to illness, biathlete Franziska Preuß broke the Olympic standard with a strong sixth place in the mass start in Le Grand-Bornand and qualified for the Winter Games. The 31-year-old overall World Cup winner showed a convincing performance in only her fourth appearance of the season with only one shooting error and was only 18 seconds behind the victorious Norwegian Maren Kirkeeide.
Preuß appeared relieved on ZDF: “I’m very happy to be able to tick off this standard. It was a bit in the back of my mind to do it before Christmas.” With her only missed shot, she allowed herself to be distracted by the loud atmosphere of the over 20,000 fans. “The last round was a struggle, but I’m very happy,” she said.
Kirkeeide narrowly beat local heroes Lou Jeanmonnot (+0.3 seconds) and Justine Braisaz-Bouchet (+0.8 seconds) in the thrilling finish sprint. The French athletes had to settle for second and third place in front of their home crowd.
The other German starters also impressed in France: Vanessa Voigt crossed the finish line in seventh place with one mistake, 19.6 seconds behind Preuß. Anna Weidel finished in a good tenth place (+20.3 seconds) after two penalty laps.