Franziska Preuss smiled when she reached Beijing after a nine-hour flight. The doubts and pain of the past few weeks were apparently forgotten.
“Glad to start now”
She is just happy “that things are about to start in Beijing. I’m so excited to see what’s to come.”, said the 27-year-old after arriving in China. she be herself “not so sure” been, “I’m on the plane. I have to say that honestly.”
But Preuss won the race against time after her tale of suffering that had lasted for weeks with falling down the stairs and corona infection. The dream of the first medal at her third Winter Games lives on with Germany’s top biathlete.
“Maybe it’s more comfortable from the pressure”
In a correspondingly good mood, Preuss boarded the bus at the airport in Beijing on Tuesday, which took the team of the German Ski Association to the National Biathlon Centre in Zhangjiakou, 180 kilometers away. “I am so looking forward”, said the athlete from Ruhpolding.
However, no one knows how Preuss survived the long break from competition. She missed the World Cups in Annecy in December and in Oberhof, Ruhpolding and Antholz in January. Even if after her positive corona test “the mental framework has already cracked a little” be, Preuss remains confident: “Maybe it’s more comfortable from the pressure because the expectations aren’t that high anymore.”
First use – date is still questionable
A decision on their first assignment in Beijing is to be made in the short term. The mixed relay will take place first on February 5, followed by the women’s individual race over 15 km (February 7).
What remains is the hope for women’s coach Kristian Mehringer that Preuss, third in the overall World Cup last season, somehow still “get in good shape”. Currently he is “So far satisfied, that looks very positive”. Preuss himself describes her condition as “stable”.
Herrmann weakened recently
A Franziska Preuss in top form would be important for the women’s team, which has recently been weakening – above all the second hope for a medal, Denise Herrmann. The 33-year-old put everything on the Olympics card this winter, so the pressure is correspondingly high.
You just hope, said Herrmann, who after all had already won a cross-country medal in Sochi in 2014, “That I can show what I want to show. The shooting has worked better now, that makes me optimistic. Everything just has to go well.”
“Mixed feelings so far”
As with Preuss, who after fourth place in the singles in Pyeongchang 2018, still has an open account with the winter games. “So far, I’ve had mixed feelings about the Olympics. But all good things come in threes, now I’m going to be completely neutral.”, said the ex-world champion: “It will be special games one way or the other.”