Kontiolahti (dpa) – On a normal day, Vanessa Hinz might have been more annoyed about her two penalties. But the thoughts of the Ukrainian rivals leave no one untouched at the moment.
“The week before it was still biathletes, now it’s soldiers. That just hurts my heart,” said Hinz after fourth place in the German women’s relay at the World Cup in Kontiolahti on ZDF.
The German quartet, who had just won bronze at the Beijing Winter Olympics, also allowed nine spare rounds in Finland, 1:57.1 behind Norway’s win. Second place went to Sweden ahead of Italy. Vanessa Voigt, Hinz, Franziska Preuss and Denise Herrmann were 57 seconds short of third place. Especially because Hinz showed a very weak performance in the standing position. “It’s really a matter of the head now,” said Hinz disappointed: “There are no excuses, it’s just a mistake on my part. That was just nothing.”
Competition in solidarity
But their blunders were just a side issue of a competition that was all about solidarity with Ukraine. In addition to the German women, many others lined up with yellow and blue hearts on their rifles. The Czech team appeared in winter hats in the national colors of Ukraine and Norway’s world champions all had the words “No War Please” written in bold on their headbands. In addition, before the start, pictures of the Ukrainian ski hunters were shown on a large video screen.
“Of course you think a lot about the Ukrainians. It’s blatant, it doesn’t go unnoticed,” said Preuss. Hinz obviously found it difficult to find the right words for the situation of the athletes, with whom many Germans have also been close friends for years. “I don’t even know what to say about that,” said the Bavarian.
After the Russian invasion of their homeland, the Ukrainian team decided not to compete in the remaining three World Cups this winter. In ex-world champion Dmytro Pidrutschnji and relay Olympic champion Julia Dschima, the best biathletes in their country are currently fighting at the front. Russians and Belarusians are also no longer at the start. They have been excluded by the World Association IBU until further notice. The races in Kontiolahti take place just over 70 kilometers from the Russian border.
The men’s relay follows on Friday
The third to last World Cup of the winter will continue on Friday (2.30 p.m. / ZDF and Eurosport) with the men’s relay. Then the time to say goodbye begins for Erik Lesser. The 33-year-old Thuringian announced his retirement at the end of the season in two and a half weeks on Thursday. “That’s it for me. I’m packing my things here now, doing my three World Cups and then: Adios Amigos! Then it’s enough for me and that fits quite well,” said Lesser in his podcast “The Biathlon Double Room”.
The situation of the Ukrainians is also of particular concern to the veteran. “I can’t imagine it, I’m a soldier myself,” said the ex-world champion about the fact that his sporting opponents are now in the combat zone in the military and fear for their lives: “To travel home in such a situation and then the Swapping the Olympic uniform for the military uniform and then defending family, friends and your country – I don’t want to imagine that.”