The young German biathlon players have to wait for their first medal at the home World Championships on Arber. The DSV youth relay team ran far past the podium on Monday. The race became a really big show for the team from Austria.
The German biathlon team also remained without a medal in the fifth race of the Junior World Championships on Arber. In the youth class mixed relay, Hannes Lipfert, Björn Hederich, Katharina Staller and Giovanna Nicolussi only ended up in ninth place after a tough race.
The victory and gold went to the team from Austria, which was just behind Italy at the first change, but then ran and shot the competition to the ground. In the end, the ÖSV quartet had a lead of 1:26 minutes over the second-placed Norwegians. Third place went to Finland (+2:03 minutes), Italy came fourth.
Young German biathlon talent is weak at the shooting range
The German team was more than four and a half minutes behind the lead at the finish. On the one hand, this was due to mixed performances on the cross-country ski trail, but on the other hand, it was also due to the hit rate. In total, the DSV team recorded 14 spare rounds and one penalty.
As the starting runner, Lipfert had no penalty, but he also had to resort to six spare rounds. With a deficit of 1:21 minutes, he handed over to Hederich, who in turn had to draw five extra cartridges and was 2:22 minutes behind when he made the switch. Staller showed the best German shooting performance in third place and hit ten out of ten. Nicolussi had a penalty in her prone position and fell further behind.
The Junior World Championships continue in the youth class on Tuesday and Wednesday with the two sprint races. Each event starts at 10:30 a.m. The mixed relay in the junior class is on the program on Monday. Here Germany starts at 2:45 p.m. with Korbi Kübler, Lukas Tannheimer, Leni Dietersberger and Sydney Wüstling.
