“Incredibly important”
German relay secures podium place
Updated 12/13/2025 – 3:30 p.mReading time: 3 minutes
The German women were still waiting for their first podium finish of the winter. On Saturday in the relay the time had come.
Without Franziska Preuß, the German women’s relay team had to prove itself on Saturday in Hochfilzen. The quartet around Anna Weidel, Julia Tannheimer, Janina Hettich-Walz and Vanessa Voigt showed a decent performance. The biathletes didn’t let spins and falls stop them. In the end it was enough for the podium and third place behind Sweden and Norway.
Voigt said afterwards: “The boys were keen with their performance and we wanted to build on that. I think we did a pretty good job. That’s incredibly important for the team.”
At the beginning, France actively led the way. Anna Weidel stayed in the middle, but tried to move forward on the track. Sweden also showed strong running thanks to Ella Halvarsson and even pulled away a little before the first shooting. Weidel suddenly stood sideways, spun on the climb and fell back.
Halvarsson had to reload once while prone. Nevertheless, she was the first to go back onto the trail. Weidel also had to reload twice. She finished eleventh again. The Austrian Anna Gandler, who was close on the Swede’s heels, made it through without making any mistakes. A group of four followed behind. Weidel was able to fight his way up two places.
While standing, Gandler and Halvarsson missed the target once, as did Weidel. However, the German was able to reload quickly and finished fourth. Sweden led ahead of Austria and Ukraine. In third place, Weidel handed over to the second German runner: Julia Tannheimer. The favorites from France were in seventh place.
The Swede Anna Magnusson came to the prone position before the Austrian Anna Andexer and Tannheimer. The Frenchwoman Jeanne Richard behind. Magnusson made no mistakes and maintained her lead. Tannheimer and Richard each had to reload once. The German came back onto the track in sixth and fought her way up four places.
In the standing position, Magnusson remained confident despite a spare. Tannheimer also bought a reloader and then had to reload again. She started the final lap in third place. Richard had to complete a penalty lap and France fell behind.
However, she fell because the Norwegian Karoline Knotten got on her skis. As a result, she lost time on the first lap. Elvia Öberg performed without mistakes in the prone position and maintained the lead with a good but slow series. Hettich-Walz shot just as quickly as Knotten – both went back onto the trail as pursuers.