Translate to English Germany misses the chance for the biathlon medal

Franziska Preuß’ first chance at her longed-for individual Olympic medal evaporated at the last shooting. Having been on course for gold for a long time, she missed two shots at the crucial moment – so in the end Germany’s best biathlete only finished tenth in the difficult individual in Antholz. After 15 kilometers, Preuß was 2:19.9 minutes behind the victorious Frenchwoman Julia Simon. If she had remained flawless like in the previous three shooting sessions, it would have been enough for silver in Antholz.

“Before the last shooting I was still optimistic, but of course not anymore after that,” said Preuss. After the first mistake, “the house of cards really collapsed,” she emphasized and added: “That’s a shame, but you can’t turn back time anymore. I’m checking that off now.”

In addition, at some point along the route the thought carousel began. “I tried to find my mental thread. I wanted to do it like I did in the first standing stage, but it didn’t work,” explained Germany’s number one.

Voigt fourth as in 2022

The best German was the flawless Vanessa Voigt in fourth place, like four years ago in Beijing. There Denise Herrmann-Wick won gold in the most difficult of all biathlon races. Lou Jeanmonnot (2 errors) made the French double success perfect; for her and Simon (1 error) it was the second medal in the second race after mixed gold. The faultless Bulgarian Lora Hristova came in sensationally third, only 73rd in the overall World Cup.

“I was just in the locker room and asked around, who is this Bulgarian?” Preuss said. Hristova then spoke up a little shyly and said: “Yes, me!” That made Preuss a little uncomfortable. “But of course I congratulated her straight away,” she said.

Pursuit world champion Preuss, meanwhile, was unable to overcome her Olympic curse, even though she got off to a great start with bronze in the mixed relay. She even had a penalty loop. “But I didn’t think about that, it didn’t matter,” said the 31-year-old, who had a broken firing pin on her rifle that had to be replaced shortly before the race. Preuss wasn’t quite at the top level when it came to running either.

“If it’s enough for a medal, then I really need the perfect day, I’m that realistic,” said Preuß: “I still have hope that it might still come.”

Voigt is 12.9 seconds short of the medal

In the end, the flawless Vanessa Voigt was 12.9 seconds short of third place; in Beijing in 2022 it was only 1.3 seconds. “Totally difficult to organize my thoughts. Basically, I’m extremely proud of my performance. I know, now the topic of running time and shooting time comes up again. But I’m happy with the race,” said Voigt.

Voigt is not the strongest runner and there has been repeated criticism of her slow shooting time. In the past, the Thuringian had repeatedly missed valuable seconds. This time too she would probably have won bronze if she had shot a little faster. She showed that she can do it when she won bronze in the mixed relay.

Olympic debutants with no chance

In Oberhof there was “a crisis conversation, a tougher conversation,” as national coach Kristian Mehringer now said. Tears were also shed. “That can backfire. But our goal was for it to start forward. I think we achieved that well,” Mehringer said after the mixed relay. Voigt wasn’t able to fully implement it this time, but she also gets more chances.

The Olympic debutants Janina Hettich-Walz and Selina Grotian were unable to intervene in the fight for top placements. Hettich-Walz finished eighth after two penalty minutes. Grotian, who only bought her Olympic ticket at the very last minute, had to settle for 55th place after four mistakes.

RND/dpa