Franziska Preuß celebrates her next podium finish of the season in the biathlon mecca of Ruhpolding. Only the Frenchwoman Lou Jeanmonnot did better.
Local hero Franziska Preuß made a shooting mistake in the individual biathlon in Rupolding and thus lost a possible victory. However, the 30-year-old was able to celebrate a strong second place in her home arena. “A boulder fell“, said Preuß, looking back on the less happy weekend in Oberhof. Only one of them performed better in the home arena!”Almost too perfect” Lou Jeanmonnot succeeded in the race. The Frenchwoman cleared all the targets and celebrated her deserved victory in the Bavarian biathlon mecca.
Preuß is back in top form
In the individual competition in Ruhpolding, accuracy was required. Because every mistake was punished with a penalty minute.
Franziska Preuß, who started the race quickly in the yellow jersey, also had to take this into account. A perfect first shooting quickly gave hope for a good result. But there was a penalty minute in the standing position. Things went better for her toughest competitor for the World Cup lead, Lou Jeanmonnot, who cleared all the targets and set them up for Preuß.
The woman from Wahlruhpolding accepted the challenge, remained error-free and was able to catch up with the Frenchwoman on the cross-country ski trail. With the fourth fastest running time and 95 percent hit performance, Preuss once again confirmed that she is in the form of her life. At the shooting range, the stadium announcer irritated her, Preuß explained her shooting error. “I was very pleased that I was able to shoot zero twice afterwards“, says Preuss.
Scherer shows good shooting performance when he returns
Stefanie Scherer, who came into the team for the paused Julia Kink, competed in a World Cup race for the first time since the 2019/20 season and for the second time ever. With just one penalty, she showed that she has good nerves even in front of her home crowd. “II was pretty nervous but it’s really cool“, Scherer beamed after an almost perfect shooting performance and a strong place in the top 20.
Selina Grotian also did well at the shooting range with one mistake, but she was a few points missing on the cross-country ski trail. This meant that she even fell behind Scherer.
Teammate Sophia Schneider, on the other hand, made two mistakes in the first shooting. Since two more were added, the baggage of penalty minutes was ultimately too big to be able to get involved further up front.
Tannheimer has to pass in the short term
Julia Tannheimer did not start. “She didn’t feel so good“, said sports director Felix Bitterling. That’s why the decision was made to take them out individually. How long will be seen over the course of the week.