Franziska Preuss smiled happily when she reached her dream destination after a nine-hour flight. After landing in Beijing, the doubts and pain of the past few weeks were forgotten. On the plane, she and her teammates had already treated themselves to a glass at the Olympics.
She was just happy “that things are starting in Beijing. I’m so excited to see what’s to come,” said the 27-year-old after arriving in China, full of expectations – but above all immensely relieved. She was “not so sure” that “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 – even if some question marks remain.
Does not matter! The main thing was that the first hurdle was cleared. Correspondingly euphoric, Preuss boarded the bus at Beijing Airport on Tuesday that took the team from the German Ski Association (DSV) to the National Biathlon Center in Zhangjiakou, 180 km away. “I’m really happy,” said the athlete from Ruhpolding.
When is Preuss allowed to run for the first time?
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 collapsed a little”, Preuss remains confident: “Perhaps the pressure is more pleasant because the expectations are no longer so high.”
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). To make matters worse, the races take place at 1,650 meters above sea level – an additional strain on body and mind.
What remains is the hope that Preuss, third overall in the World Cup last season, somehow “gets in good shape” with women’s coach Kristian Mehringer. He is currently “satisfied, that looks very positive”. Preuss describes her condition as “stable”.
Pressure on Herrmann is great
A Franziska Preuß in top form would be so important for the women’s team, which has recently weakened massively – especially 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.
She “simply hopes,” said Herrmann, who 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 has to be fit.”
As with Preuss, who after the ungrateful fourth place in the individual at 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: “One way or another, there will be special games.”