Biathlete Philipp Horn secured gold in the super sprint at the start of the Summer World Championships in Ruhpolding.
The 27-year-old prevailed on Friday after 7.5 kilometers in front of around 3,000 spectators in the Chiemgau Arena in the final sprint of a group of six with a lead of 0.2 seconds over Sebastian Samuelsson of Sweden. His teammate Peppe Femling took bronze, 0.7 seconds behind.
Horn: “It was a great race”
Horn had two penalties, the Swedish duo three each. The great German team result was rounded off by Justus Strelow (3/+ 0.9 seconds) in fourth and Philipp Nawrath (3/+ 1.5 seconds) in sixth place. Lucas Fratzscher came eighth, Roman Rees came in 15th. Ex-world champion Benedikt Doll decided not to take part after the birth of his first child.
“It was a great race and incredibly nice to run in front of spectators again and especially in front of the home crowd”Horn said on ZDF. “That really pushed me at the last shooting.” The 30 best in the qualification started the race on rollerskis at the same time as the regular mass start in winter, there were four shots, and the penalty loop was reduced to 75 meters instead of the usual 150 meters.
Largest starting field at the Summer World Championships
The Summer World Championships in the Bavarian Biathlon Mecca has the largest starting field ever. In recent years, the Germans, like almost all other top nations, have skipped the summer races, and this time the Norwegians and French are not there due to a different form build-up. “It’s nice that it’s called the World Cup, but for us it’s just preparation for the winter.”said Horn about the importance of the title fights.