According to former world champion Franziska Preuß, the main question in the biathletes’ mass start is their strength reserves.
“It’s going to be really hard,” said the 29-year-old before the last race in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, on Sunday (12:30 p.m./ZDF and Eurosport). “Now I have to recover really well and fill up my memory again and maybe we can let ourselves be distracted by the positive atmosphere.”
Preuß is looking forward to the 12.5 kilometer competition at the end. “I really like the mass start,” she said. “At the beginning you can swim along a bit and save your energy. The key is at the shooting range – especially standing. You can move forward a few places there.”
Biathlon: Doll and Co. looking for compensation
Discipline coach Sverre Olsbu Röiseland also demands full concentration. “You can’t make stupid mistakes. It’s going to be a tough race, the track is really tough. But it’s the last race of the year and we’re going to go all in,” he said.
The men finish the World Cup premiere in Graubünden (2.45 p.m./ZDF and Eurosport). After the many penalty laps in the pursuit, sprint winner Benedikt Doll and Co. are looking for compensation.
“I don’t know exactly what it was yet. I’ll analyze it for myself and then I’ll try to make it better again,” said Doll.