Philipp Nawrath was once again the best German biathlete in the sprint. But despite a flawless shooting performance, it wasn’t enough for a podium place in Hochfilzen. Johannes Thingnes Bö won the competition just ahead of his compatriot Sturla Holm Laegreid.
Philipp Nawrath was unable to repeat his third place in Kontiolahti in Hochfilzen. The Bavarian showed a top shooting performance and cleared all the targets – but on the cross-country ski trail the Bavarian couldn’t keep up with the best. In the end he finished in eighth place (+22 seconds). “I’m already satisfied. That’s almost a perfect performance at the shooting range, then you’re looking at a top six. It was tough on the lap, maybe the previous load was too much“, said Nawarth on ZDF. But at least he had the race “well divided” and managed the 13th running time.
Two Norwegians fought for victory: Johannes Thingnes Bö and Sturla Holm Laegreid fought a hot duel for victory. Laegreid made no mistakes, Bö had one penalty in the last shooting and went into the last lap seven seconds behind his compatriot. But the dominator of the last few years really stepped up the pace on the cross-country ski trail and secured his first win of the season with a lead of 4.2 seconds. Fabien Claude from France came in third (0/+6.8 seconds). Bö took the yellow jersey from Frenchman Eric Perrot (13th place).
Many shooting errors among DSV biathletes
Justus Strelow was angry after his 29th place in the Kontiolahti sprint. When shooting prone he confidently cleared all the targets, only when shooting for the second time while standing did the last target refuse to fall. Strelow narrowly missed the top 15 in 17th place.
Simon Kaiser came into the team for David Zobel thanks to his strong performances in the IBU Cup. The 25-year-old impressed in his World Cup debut, but the windows remained black three times. “That was really fun. It’s cooler in the World Cup than in the IBU Cup”said Kaiser, who was satisfied with 38th place at the start.
Philipp Horn didn’t make it into the top 30 with two mistakes. Johannes Kühn had a bad day with four penalties and 59th place. At least he was still just able to qualify for his pursuer. Danilo Riethmüller, who was fourth in the mass start last week, had it even worse: he missed five targets and came 73rd.