At the start of the German Biathlon Championships on the Arber, there was a first little surprise. Overall World Cup winner Franziska Preuss had to give up a returnee.
Janina Hettich-Walz is the new German single champion. The biathlete won over 12.5 kilometers ahead of Franziska Preuß on Friday. The 29-year-old lead over the second place, both of them shot one mistake.
For Hettich-Walz it was the first competition after her baby break. In February she gave birth to a daughter. Due to pregnancy, Hettich Walz completely missed the 2024/25 season. After the single title in 2020 and the sprint victory a year later, this is already your third championship title.
In the 2023/24 season, the sports soldier had had its most successful season to date. In the overall World Cup she became tenth, at the World Cup in Nove Mesto she won silver in singles and bronze with the season.
The returnee Voigt drives onto the podium
Third place at the championship singles went to another returnee on Friday: Vanessa Voigt. The 27-year-old had stopped the past season early due to health problems. At the Arber she stayed flawlessly at the shooting range, her gap to the top was 1:43 minutes.
For the men, Philipp Horn won the title in front of Lucas Fratzscher and Justus Strelow on the 15 kilometers of Philipp Horn despite four shooting errors. The ski roller races in the Bavarian Forest are also about grief for the ex-athlete Laura Dahlmeier, who had an accident during mountaineering. Among other things, there was a minute’s silence on Friday in the stadium, and a highlight clip from Dahlmeier’s career was recorded on the scoreboard.
On Saturday and Sunday (start at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.), the sprint and the persecution are still on the program before the medals in the persecution will be awarded on Sunday (11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.). The World Cup season begins on November 29th in Austria, the highlight of the winter is the Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo (February 6th to 22nd, 2026).