The golden glow of Denise Herrmann’s individual triumph is getting weaker and weaker after the next moderate Olympic performance of the German biathletes. In the pursuit race on Sunday, none of the quartet for the individual Olympic champion in China made it into the top ten. Vanessa Voigt was the best in Zhangjiakou in twelfth place. However, the bad skis caused problems for the DSV ski hunters.
“I wasn’t at all competitive with the material. It’s just difficult that way,” said Herrmann on ARD with unusual clarity. Despite three penalties, the 33-year-old had moved up from 22nd to 17th place. Maybe there could have been more, but not with the noticeably weak material under her feet. “I felt good,” said the Saxon: “But if everything doesn’t really fit together, it will be difficult to make up time. Today we were really, really far away from the music.”
Olympic debutant Voigt was 2:48.4 minutes behind winner Marte Olsbu Röiseland after ten kilometers and one shooting error. The Norwegian won her third gold after successes in the mixed relay and in the sprint. As in the sprint, the Swede Elvira Öberg secured silver, 1:36.5 minutes behind.
Bronze went to World Champion Tiril Eckhoff from Norway, 12.2 seconds behind. On the final lap, Eckhoff overtook her compatriot Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, who only staggered on the last kilometer and made it to the finish with her last strength. The 25-year-old collapsed exhausted and had to be treated.
Franziska Preuß, who was sentenced to spectating for a long time before the Olympics, achieved her best result so far in 15th place, but was 2:58.7 minutes behind the winner despite only one shooting error. “You had to fight your way through, but I’m still satisfied now,” said the Bavarian, who improved by 15 places.
After three mistakes, Herrmann finished 3:20.7 minutes behind, Vanessa Hinz finished 21st – although she only missed once in 20 attempts, the gap to Röiseland, who was also much better at running, was 3:34.1 minutes. After the worst sprint result for German women in Olympic history, the starting position was unfavorable. At least all four women still qualified for the final mass start next Saturday.
The top 15 of the overall World Cup, the medal winners at the Olympics and the best point collectors from the Winter Games compete there. Herrmann earned her place with gold in the singles. Voigt, Hinz and Preuss got their tickets based on the Olympic points classification.
“It shows what the team is capable of, even if things aren’t going 100 percent,” Herrmann said of the improvements in pursuit. The main focus is now on the relay race on Wednesday, in which a medal is a must. “We will put the knife across the mouth and attack,” said Herrmann. You should fight to the last shot and to the last meter, the Olympic champion demanded: “We definitely want to fight, but everything has to go smoothly.”
