DSV athlete Franziska Preuß narrowly missed her second World Cup victory of her career in the pursuit on Sunday. Biathlon icon Laura Dahlmeier explained afterwards what the problem could have been.
Franziska Preuß was just 0.3 seconds away from being at the top of the podium in the World Cup pursuit of Östersund. The victory in an icy minus twelve degrees in Sweden went to Frenchwoman Lou Jeanmonnot, but the 29-year-old DSV athlete defended the yellow jersey of the overall World Cup leader.
Preuß, who celebrated her first and last individual World Cup victory in January 2019 and started the pursuit in fourth position, had shown a first-class race apart from one missed shot. After deducting the deficit from the sprint, she delivered the best time of all athletes and was therefore faster than the error-free Jeanmonnot.
DSV ski hunter Preuß is combative
On the last lap it actually looked as if the performance would be enough to win, as the DSV athlete had pushed past the Frenchwoman after the last shooting. Only after the last short descent did Jeanmonnot pass Preuss again, partly because of a small hitch. “The final liveliness was a bit lacking,” complained the German ski hunter afterwards on “ZDF”.
Biathlon icon Laura Dahlmeier, who was also present at the interview and was the last German to wear the yellow jersey since 2017 before Preuß, immediately found a reason for the missing grains at the end: “Franziska was in the downhill squat for a bit long. That’s why the Frenchwoman comes still over and has the higher speed. That meant she was able to overtake Franzi.”
The overall World Cup leader, who had already achieved a strong second place in the individual in Östersund, was fighting hard: “At some point the finish will be on my side. I’m not giving up.” Now we’re off to Hochfilzen in Austria, where the second World Cup will take place (December 8th to 10th).