The sprint in Oberhof on Thursday was disappointing for the women. The men also clearly missed out on the top placings at the home World Cup.
It wasn’t the day for the German biathletes – and of all things at the home World Cup in Oberhof. While three Frenchmen, Quentin Fillon Maillet (23:36.20), Fabien Claude (+14.90) and Émilien Jacquelin (+22.10), were able to celebrate the podium, Justus Strelow was the best German in 18th place (+1:12.90). .
Philipp Nawrath was 27th (+1:29.80), Danilo Riethmüller ended up in 31st place (+1:36.20) and Johannes Kühn was two places behind (+1:38.70). Philipp Horn had to settle for 44th place (+1:57.80) and Simon Kaiser with 46th place (+1:59.80).
Laura Dahlmeier, an expert on ZDF, emphasized that the French had “shot well”: “That’s ultimately what matters today.” Former biathlete Denise Herrmann-Wick summed up the German sprint as follows: “It’s bitter when you can’t show your best performance on a day like this because you really want to. Unfortunately, there were too many mistakes at the shooting range .”
Simon Kaiser was the first German to arrive at the shooting range with a very good running performance. However, the 25-year-old missed twice and lost time due to the penalties. Kaiser also made two mistakes in the standing position; it was his first home World Cup. Things didn’t go perfectly for Philipp Horn either; he missed a shot while lying down, but he still showed strong running ability. However, due to the three penalty laps after the second shooting, the German no longer had anything to do with the top places.
On the other hand, Justus Strelow had something to be happy about, as he delivered a flawless performance in the prone position and was back on the track in third place. Things went just as well for Strelow on the cross-country ski trail. However, a missed shot while standing got in his way, causing the 28-year-old to fall behind.
Johannes Kühn also hit all the targets in the first shooting and made three mistakes in the standing shot. Meanwhile, Ukrainian Dmytro Pidrutschnyj crossed the finish line with a zero-fault performance. When Johannes Kühn crossed the line behind, Danilo Riethmüller had to accept a missed shot almost at the same time. Philipp Nawrath also made a mistake in the prone position. Both made mistakes in the standing position.
After the race, Riethmüller praised the home fans, saying on ZDF: “It was a lot of fun, here in front of such a backdrop. You can no longer hear your own breathing, your own thoughts. You can only be carried by the fans, from the shouts.”
Johannes Kühn saw it differently: “I wasn’t that dissatisfied with my own performance, one less would have been a little better. It was quite difficult standing, I shot for 30 and no matter how great the fans are, someone doesn’t have that understood that if you don’t shoot, you don’t say anything.” The fans were so close and this one person kept interrupting and it was so “uncomfortable”.