In the last race of the Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof, the German women did not win a medal. Victory in the mass start went to Sweden. With 15 penalties, the Germans gave away a podium finish at the shooting range. Hanna Kebinger, the best of the German team, was twelfth.
Hanna Öberg is the new world champion in the mass start. On Sunday (February 19, 2023) the Swede beat Norway’s Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold (1 penalty loop/+4.8 seconds) and Julia Simon from France (3 penalty loops/+20.8 seconds) over 12.5 kilometers and two penalties after shooting errors seconds) through. The best German was Hanna Kebinger, who finished twelfth with two penalties (+ 1:03.2 minutes).
Medal hope Herrmann-Wick 24.
Vanessa Voigt, Sophia Schneider and Denise Herrmann-Wick did not make it into the top 20. Voigt came in 23rd with three penalties (+ 2:46.8 minutes), Herrmann-Wick was 24th with five penalties (+ 2:54). .2 minutes), Schneider also had five penalties and was 27th (+ 3:26.1 minutes).
Kebinger: “Great two weeks”
Kebinger was happy about her twelfth place. The 25-year-old, who only bought the Oberhof ticket shortly before the home World Championships, achieved two of her three best career results in the title fights with eighth place in the pursuit and twelfth place in the mass start and was also happy about relay silver: “I’m really enjoying it here. It’s been a great two weeks for me. It was great fun.” Regarding her race, in which she was also able to impress with the sixth best time, the Bavarian said: “I didn’t feel good at all this morning. I thought, oh dear, if I have to climb the Birxstieg five more times, it could get pretty tough. But sometimes days like this are actually the best.”
Herrmann-Wick only at the front after the start
Herrmann-Wick ran the race from the front after the start. After sprint gold as well as pursuit and relay silver, the next medal should come in the mass start from Oberhof in drizzle, slightly above zero and a fairly calm wind. In the difficult Birxstieg Herrmann-Wick led the competition of 30 athletes.
Herrmann-Wick let the French and Swede Hanna Öberg pass before the first shooting. But the slipstream didn’t help, like Simon and Öberg, Herrmann-Wick had to go into the penalty loop and sorted himself in again in 24th place. With wind conditions that were easy to control, 20 runners remained clear in the first prone stage. Swede Linn Persson was the first to get back on track, while Hanna Kebinger and Vanessa Voigt also shot clean and went back on track in 11th and 16th. Herrmann-Wick was 33.6 seconds behind the leader.
Herrmann-Wick loses on the track
On the second lap, Herrmann-Wick already realized that she could not keep up with the top athletes in the race. By the second standing stage she was 43.1 seconds behind the leaders – overall the 34-year-old Olympic champion had only the 20th best time in Beijing on Sunday.
A mistake in the second prone stage caused Herrmann-Wick to fall further behind. Kebinger, Voigt and Schneider also had to go into the penalty loop. After the second shooting, Herrmann-Wick was more than a minute behind in 24th place. Kebinger was the best German in 16th.
At the very front, seven runners remained clean after the second shooting stage, followed by Persson from France, Anais Chevalier-Bouchet from France and Lisa Theresa Hauser from Austria.
First standing: French doubles
In the first standing stage, Chevalier-Bouchet was able to break away from the leading trio, while Persson and Hauser fell back with one penalty each. Chevalier-Bouchet’s closest pursuer was compatriot Julia Simon, who had no penalty in standing and left 7.8 seconds behind. Hanna Öberg also lined up at the front. The best German remained Kebinger, who shot clean in the first standing stage and left the track in seventh place (+ 30.2 seconds).
For Herrmann-Wick, who came to the first standing stage in 24th place, all dreams of a medal were shattered: With three penalties, she dropped to 29th place and almost three minutes behind the leaders.
Last shooting: Kebinger falls back
In the final last stop, Chevailier-Bouchet and Simon each had a mistake. Öberg shot clean and took the lead. The first pursuer was now the Norwegian Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold (+4.8 seconds), who fell back to eleventh place after a mistake in the second prone stage, but then worked her way up bit by bit.
They were followed by Simon and Chevalier-Bouchet, 8.6 and 9.5 seconds back. Kebinger was unable to capitalize on his mistakes at the front and dropped back to twelfth place with one mistake.
Öberg runs to fourth Oberhof medal
In the fight for gold, Landmark Tandrevold was able to attack leader Öberg in the meantime. On the home stretch, however, Öberg had the fastest legs and crossed the finish line 4.8 seconds ahead of the Norwegian. Öberg got her fourth medal from Oberhof and the third world title of her career. After gold in the men’s mass start by Sebastian Samuelsson, the Swedes also celebrated a golden Sunday.
Herrmann-Wick shot clean in the last standing stage, but was only able to work his way up to 24th place and crossed the finish line in disappointment three minutes behind Öberg.