Benedikt Doll – Form curve fits
Benedikt Doll has filled up with self-confidence in good time before the season highlight. After four top 15 placings, he finished second in the sprint at the World Cup in Ruhpolding and finally broke the “zero” again. At the dress rehearsal in Antholz, the 31-year-old showed in the mass start that he also has enough energy to be at the top.
“Benni is able to get on the podium. Benny is able to win races“That’s why sports show expert Arnd Peiffer underlines. But skis, hit performance, mileage and daily form have to fit together.”The nice thing is that he’s not the only German to whom this applies,” said Peiffer.
Johannes Kühn – good shooting performance
Because team colleague Johannes Kühn had already shown himself to be in good Olympic form with places one, four and six. Peiffer believes that the 30-year-old, “somewhat surprising to many outsiders” Sprint winner of Hochfilzen, able to be at the forefront of the Winter Games.
“He has had very good shooting in prone and standing this year and has had good sprint races more often.” The forced break after a corona infection made him “unfortunately a bit out of rhythm“. After that, the Upper Bavarian had to get used to his form at the dress rehearsal in Antholz, where he was 19th. Nevertheless, Peiffer says: “I see him as part of the strong German team, capable of making it onto the podium.”
Erik Lesser – in absolute Olympic form
Veteran Erik Lesser, who wasn’t always happy with his running form, “really fought his way through,” said Peiffer. “In the relays, he always showed top performances from the start as the starting runner, but in the individual races it didn’t quite work out that well.”
He got the first exclamation mark with tenth place in French Annecy set. A clear upward trend could then be seen in Oberhof, where he even briefly dreamed of his first podium finish after a dry spell of 13 months at the home World Cup. “With the fulfillment of the Olympic norm and then two sixth places in Ruhpolding, the form curve was also in the right direction“, Peiffer analyzes: “It suits him pretty well right now. For me he is also in absolute Olympic form.”
Philipp Nawrath – who strengthens the team.
Philipp Nawrath, on the other hand, had achieved the Olympic norm right at the start of the season with sixth place in Östersund. “Then he was a bit of a grab bag” says Peiffer. Especially in standing, things went well for him, sometimes badly. In Hochfilzen he was able to shine with eighth place in the sprint. In Oberhof he was disappointing with a 51st place. In Ruhpolding there was another ray of hope with 15th place in the pursuer.
And Nawrath inspired in the season: “A terrific performance as the final runner of the relay in Ruhpolding,” Peiffer certified after second place. However, he was “a very changeable athlete. But the running form was right. For Peiffer is “the basis in biathlon: If you have a good day at the shooting range, you can also run in at the front.” For the Olympic champion it is therefore clear: Nawrath is “another one who strengthens our team.“
Roman Rees – Long-distance potential
Roman Rees didn’t want to take fifth and sixth place in the season as a benchmark. Because the 28-year-old from the Black Forest could not repeat his top placings from Oberhof. The placement pendulum also showed places beyond the top 30 in the current season.
Nevertheless, Peiffer sees him with a lot of potential, especially over the long distances: “Twenties, with a good shooting performance he can also run into the front, he had that last year WM shown“He did a great job there. Overall, Peiffer is pretty optimistic about the men’s team.”Because there is real potential right now and everyone has already had a sense of achievement.”
David Zobel – the high-flyer
Youngster David Zobel is the high-flyer in the team. In Ruhpolding, he stormed into tenth place in the pursuit in what was only his fourth World Cup appearance, thus fulfilling half the Olympic standard. “David made his way onto the Olympic team thanks to great performances in Ruhpolding,” praises Peiffer and explains that Zobel was also nominated, despite half the norm, because he won the “fifth net time” showed. He also showed an almost perfect shooting with 19 hits.
At the dress rehearsal in Antholz, however, shortly after being called up to the Beijing team, he learned the hard way with four penalty minutes in the individual game. He regained his self-confidence with third place in the “substitute” relay. “He did a great relay race in Antholz and that’s very important because we’ll have a substitute who could also run in the relay.” Of course, it remains to be seen whether he will be used. It is important that “we still have one on the bench who is also competitive.
Relay – all the requirements for a medal
In Ruhpolding, the squadron took second place after a strong race to catch up. In Antholz, it was also on the podium. “I trust them to fight for the medals,” says Peiffer. But the competition is strong. In addition to Norway, Sweden and Russia, France should also be on the list.”You have to beat really strong teams to win a medal.” Peiffer is still optimistic because “our team is just so strong in terms of running.” His conclusion: “All the conditions are there to win a medal.“
red / Arnd Peiffer, Margot Lamparter, Uri Zahavi
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As of: 01/26/2022, 6:00 p.m