At the 2026 Winter Olympics, German biathletes were only able to win one medal. Again and again, the DSV ski hunters fought for a long time in Antholz for a place on the podium, only to come away empty-handed in the end. An Olympic champion from 1998 doesn’t rate the performance of Franziska Preuß and Co. as too bad.
“We had a lot of good performances from the Germans, but in the end we were often missing a little bit of a medal. But it’s not just the medals that count,” said Peter Sendel in an interview with “Welt” and added: “We had a lot of placements in the top eight, those were good results – but at the Olympics no one cares if you come fourth.”
In the end, the DSV team only had one medal – bronze in the mixed team at the start of the games in Italy. “It wasn’t all as disappointing as it looks in the medal table. Even when I was shooting, when I saw Vanessa Voigt give away the last shot and with it the medal,” says the 53-year-old: “In the end, it depends on little things that decide whether a medal or eighth place. Three or four podium places would have been possible.”
Biathlon: DSV team “in third, fourth place”
The 1998 Olympic relay champion therefore comes to the conclusion that “there is no reason to question an entire system,” said Sendel, who explained: “We can’t do much wrong. We only have a small number of athletes and not many can miss out, so we still have a chance of a podium. We don’t have 200 athletes who are good on skis and with a weapon.”
Sendel, who has been involved in biathlon as a trainer since he ended his career 20 years ago and is still active as a shooting trainer at DSV bases, also sees the existing personnel among women and men as being among the best in the world: “I see us in third, fourth place on a par with other nations such as Sweden and Italy. France and Norway are currently ahead of us.”
He is therefore not worried about the future of German biathlon. “Ideally, progress could be seen at the next Olympic Games,” Sendel believes: “I trust our women in particular. I’m not worried about that. There’s more to come. Even with the men. We still have a few promising talents. If they’re well prepared and cared for, they can perform.”
