Full circle: Denise Herrmann-Wick took her first training shots in Oberhof and won gold at the World Championships in February 2022.
Image: IMAGO/Jacob Schroeter
Biathlete Denise Herrmann-Wick wins the small crystal globe in the sprint at the end of her career. For the transferee, who found happiness late, the perfect conclusion to her successful career
Fshe can also lie down. After winning the Oslo sprint, Denise Herrmann-Wick jumped off the podium into the arms of her coaches and support staff. They threw the biathlete in the air, and Denise Herrmann-Wick first made a face as if she were wondering: will that go well? But when the six men caught her safely and cheered her up again in front of the blue sky at Holmenkollen, she laughed and held up her hand with an outstretched index finger, as if to say: I’m number one!
The result of the mass start on Sunday, her last race, in which she finished sixth behind the winner Hanna Öberg, was almost irrelevant after the success of the previous day. With the triumph in the penultimate race of her career, in which she shot clean on Saturday and ran the fastest (21:06.5 minutes), the 34-year-old also won the “small crystal ball”, the World Cup ranking in the sprint. Julia Simon from France won the overall World Cup. “I started as a sprinter in cross-country skiing and finish as a sprinter, which makes me really proud. That was the icing on the cake today,” said Denise Herrmann-Wick.
