In freezing cold and strong winds, the German biathletes got an impression of the difficult conditions in Zhangjiakou during their first training session before the Olympic Winter Games.
“Running uphill is actually quite pleasant because you have a tailwind. But downhill you have a headwind, then it gets really cold,” said women’s national coach Kristian Mehringer of “dpa”: “You have to be properly prepared, especially when it’s a It gets a bit colder with the 5 p.m. starts.”
The day after the team’s arrival in Beijing, Mehringer had put on his own skis and tested the demanding route at an altitude of 1700 meters. “The weather in the sun is actually pleasant,” said the 40-year-old. At ten degrees below zero it was comparatively warm at noon, in the early evening the sun will have disappeared quickly during the competitions and it will be even colder.
“At minus 18 or 20 degrees with wind, it becomes relatively very dangerous for your health. But we have a competition jury that will make the right decision,” said Mehringer.
According to the rules of the biathlon world association IBU, it is no longer possible to start from -20 degrees, consequences are possible at -15 degrees. “As with every World Cup, we keep a close eye on the weather and hope to be able to avoid short-term weather-related postponements,” said the IBU when asked by “dpa”.
Possible measures will be coordinated with the local organizers in good time. The mixed relay is on the program for the start of the Olympics on Saturday.
“We have warm socks with us”
The German ski hunters around Denise Herrmann and Franziska Preuss were already well wrapped up in the opening training session. “We have thermal socks with us so that your toes stay warm. It’s important to have a buff that protects your face and of course you have to be really warm when you run out at the start,” said Mehringer: “If you’re cold, it will be difficult to get warm again.”
The German biathletes will only announce the line-up of their mixed relay for the Olympics opener this Saturday at short notice on the day before the race. According to the current status, the exact cast is not expected to be published until Friday, it was said on the sidelines of the ski hunters’ first training session in Zhangjiakou. In the competition, in which two men and two women compete together, the quartet of the German Ski Association took fourth place in Pyeongchang in 2018 and missed Olympic bronze by just 0.3 seconds.
Gold favorite Norway took a more offensive approach to the announcement and named its team as the first top nation more than a week ago. The world champions compete with Marte Olsbu Röiseland, Tiril Eckhoff, Tarjei Bö and Johannes Thingnes Bö. Other medal candidates such as France or Sweden have also kept a low profile so far.