Biathlon Olympic champion Denise Herrmann-Wick made a good start to the year of the home world championships on the Pokljuka.
The 34-year-old finished sixth in the sprint over 7.5 kilometers thanks to an outstanding mileage. She revealed weaknesses on the shooting range with two penalties. In the end, the flawless Swedish winner Elvira Öberg was 36.3 seconds short.
“It was one mistake too many for the podium,” said Herrmann-Wick on “ZDF”: “But the fastest time is really cool. I divided it up well, I felt good.” The podium was completed by overall World Cup leader Julia Simon (0 penalties/+6.9 seconds) from France and Italy’s Dorothea Wierer (0/+18.7).
Biathlon: Röiseland misses top 15
The other German ski hunters could not keep up on the Slovenian plateau.
Vanessa Voigt (0/+1:15.1) and Anna Weidel (0/+1:24.2) did not make it into the top 20, Sophia Schneider (4/+2:34.3) even missed the points.
Hopeful Franziska Preuss did not even start the trip to Slovenia because of a persistent infection. Vanessa Hinz also had to postpone her planned return to the World Cup a few hours before the start because of “upper respiratory tract symptoms”.
Overall World Cup winner Marte Olsbu Röiseland (1/+59.9) just missed the top 15 on her season debut after various illnesses. After the pursuit, the single mixed (11:45 a.m.) and the mixed relay (2:25 p.m./all ZDF and Eurosport) are still to come at the end of the World Cup weekend on Sunday.