The German biathletes fully rehabilitated themselves in the Kontiolahti sprint. Three days after the individual debacle, Philipp Nawrath secured the DSV men’s first podium finish this winter.
The 31-year-old finished in a great third place in the 10 km race with Frenchman Emilien Jacquelin’s dominant victory.
After a flawless shooting performance, Nawrath was 25.1 seconds behind Jacquelin, who also shot zero and triumphed in 23:03.1 minutes ahead of the Swede Sebastian Samuelsson (1/+18.9 seconds).
For Nawrath it was the fourth podium of his career. Superstar Johannes Thingnes Bö (2/+51.0) came fifth.
In the individual match on Tuesday, the DSV men experienced a bitter defeat. Nawrath, as the best German, only ended up in 22nd place. However, Philipp Horn (2/+1:19.0 minutes), Johannes Kühn (2/+1:20.3) and Danilo Riethmüller (1/+1:21.5) also showed improvement.
A full biathlon weekend is coming up
In the sprint, as in the individual, the stars started significantly later than in previous years. The IBU world association decided before the season that the top 15 of the overall World Cup would receive higher starting numbers in the individual and sprint races.
While the IBU expects exciting competitions until the end, the athletes fear disadvantages in the course conditions – but that was not the case in the cold conditions in Kontiolahti.
On Saturday (5:10 p.m./ARD and Eurosport) the women’s sprint over 7.5 km continues. The German hopes rest on Franziska Preuß, fifth in the individual, and Vanessa Voigt (9th). On Sunday the World Cup in Kontiolahti will conclude with the mass starts (2:30 p.m. and 5:10 p.m.).