Janina Hettich-Walz and Roman Rees narrowly miss the podium at the biathlon show in Schalke. At the anniversary edition there is once again a party atmosphere.
Roman Rees first congratulated him politely, then sought consolation from his partner Janina Hettich-Walz. The German biathletes were unable to contribute the hoped-for podium result to the loud and colorful anniversary show in the Arena at Schalke.
The best DSV duo came in fourth place to the deafening cheers of 45,000 fans. Rees had to let the Slovenian Jakov Fak pass in the finish sprint in the 20th stadium edition of the traditional World Team Challenge.
“I came out of the last corner really badly, then he ripped me off,” complained Rees on “ARD”. The atmosphere was still “unbelievable – a unique experience”.
Together with Hettich-Walz, he managed to catch up in the final chase race after a weak seventh place in the mass start. “It was an important competition for me after the illness,” he said: “We were competitive again, we’ll take that with us.”
Biathlon at Schalke “something special”
Ultimately, after four penalty laps, the defending champions Julia Simon and Fabien Claude from France, who were once again victorious, were 1:10.1 minutes behind.
After finishing second in the mass start, the supposed top German duo Hanna Kebinger and Benedikt Doll fell back to sixth place. “You get a lot of goosebumps,” enthused Kebinger, who has returned strong after a corona infection. Doll gave away the tangible podium at the shooting range.
The fans at Schalke gave the ten teams from nine nations a foretaste of the home World Cups. “You’d never experience an atmosphere like this otherwise,” enthused “ARD” expert Arnd Peiffer: “You’re surrounded by loud fans, that’s something special.”
The 1.3 km long lap in and outside the arena including the “Ruhrpott Glacier” had to be run nine times in both the mass start and the pursuit.
Usual apres-ski atmosphere at Schalke
As usual, the snow for the anniversary edition came with 100 trucks from the ski hall in Neuss, and in the spirit of sustainability, Schalke 04 is making “a lasting ecological contribution to the region” as compensation. Outside the arena, the usual apres-ski atmosphere developed in the Hüttendorf hours before the race.
The last German success at the “WTC” by Vanessa Hinz and Simon Schempp was seven years ago. Previously, Martina Glagow/Michael Greis (2002) and Laura Dahlmeier/Florian Graf (2013) were victorious. Due to the pandemic, the competition, which has been held since 2002, took place in Ruhpolding in 2020 and 2021 without spectators.
The home races are now on the program in the Biathlon World Cup. The German team will first attack in Oberhof from January 4th before continuing with the competitions in Ruhpolding the following week.
From January 18th, the World Cup dress rehearsal for Nove Mesto (February 7th to 18th) will take place in Antholz, where the DSV ski hunters are among the favorites after already 13 podium places.