Erik Lesser is closely monitoring developments in biathlon. With regard to young talent, he also criticizes the status of sport in Germany.
There have been several resignations among the German biathletes in the A squad in the last two years, such as those of Denise Herrmann-Wick, Vanessa Hinz and Benedikt Doll. In the men’s category, Johannes Kühn, at the age of 33, is leading the team this season as an experienced athlete. For the women, this role is held by 30-year-old Franziska Preuß, who currently leads the overall World Cup and wears the yellow jersey (you can read more about Preuß here).
The youngest German biathletes are Simon Kaiser and Danilo Riethmüller (both 25 years old). The latter celebrated his season debut with the mixed team in Kontiolahti, Finland, at the start of the season. In the end it was fourth place. Riethmüller had to complete a penalty lap and afterwards admitted that he was nervous because of the pressure.
However, he showed in the mass start in Kontiolahti with his fourth place and in the mass start in Le Grand-Bornand (France) with his second place and best career result (read more about the comeback here) that he can withstand the pressure. Among the women, 22-year-old Johanna Puff and 20-year-old Selina Grotian are among the German talents. Grotian in particular showed with her first World Cup victory in Le Grand-Bornand that she can still bring Germany a lot of joy in biathlon.
The best German biathletes include some hopefuls for the future. One person who is monitoring developments in the teams is former ace Erik Lesser. The 2015 pursuit world champion was one of the identifying figures and top performers in the German selection for years. After retiring, the 36-year-old became a TV expert and also works as a shooting trainer. In an interview with t-online, Lesser now explains that, apart from the A squad, there are definitely problems with young talent in German biathlon.
“At the German Championships, the non-A team athletes were a little further away. There weren’t that many who said: ‘I would like to be at the front,'” said the 2014 Olympic individual silver medalist Sochi. Lesser is convinced that Simon Kaiser can achieve a lot in his young career: “He shows the potential to knock on the top.”
Although there are always talents, Lesser also emphasizes: “Of course we lack the masses. If you look towards Norway, you can only be envious.” The Norwegians also have younger talents, such as Juni Arnekleiv (25 years old) and Sturla Holm Laegreid (27 years old) in their senior squad. However, they already have a lot of experience and, in Laegreid’s case, have already won Olympic gold and six World Cup gold medals. In addition, new talents such as the 21-year-old four-time European champion Maren Hjelmeset Kirkeeide are constantly coming along.
However, Lesser warns against criticizing the German biathlon system just because more young people in Norway are interested in the sport. “I believe that our training in Germany is already very good and that in Norway is no better. I believe that if you have 100 athletes available, then it is easy to find two top athletes from them, form them, and then It doesn’t matter what you train with them, but if you only have ten athletes, a tenth of them, and pick two of them, then you have to do everything right,” says Lesser.
He sees a lower probability of regularly bringing good talent to the top in Germany: “We then run the risk of questioning our system, even though it is actually good.” According to Erik Lesser, the sticking point is different: “In Norway, sport has a different status.”
In the Scandinavian country, even more children play sports in the clubs, and as a result there are more young people in biathlon. “Biathlon is even smaller there than cross-country skiing. The cross-country skiers certainly don’t have any problems with young talent there as we know them,” says the former German top performer.