She will be missed: Laura Dahlmeier (l.), who died in July 2025, and teammate Franziska Preuss (2015)
The Biathlon World Cup season begins in Östersund this weekend with relay races for women and men. A total of ten competitions will be held in the Swedish biathlon mecca over seven days of competition. Of the usual World Cup disciplines, only the mass start is missing.
It will be a start by the big absentees, including Laura Dahlmeier. Although the Garmisch-Partenkirchen native ended her career six years ago, her fatal climbing accident in Pakistan’s Karakoram Mountains on July 28th casts an enormous shadow over the biathlon competitions. The ever-popular Olympic champion, world champion and overall World Cup winner, who ended her career at the age of 25 due to motivation problems, remained connected to the sport of biathlon in many ways, including as a television expert. The board of the German Ski Association Stefan Schwarzbach told the sports news agency on the occasion of the start of the World Cup sid: “The coming weeks will certainly be emotional for most of us because we associate many of these places very closely with memories of Laura and with shared experiences.” The German Ski Association announced last week that in the future it would award a Laura Dahlmeier Prize for special achievements in the young winter sports sector.
For completely different reasons, one of the most successful active biathletes will also be missing in Östersund. After a bizarre back and forth of denial, alleged blackouts and a final partial confession, the French woman Julia Simon was sentenced by a French court in October to a three-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 15,000 euros for credit card fraud. One of the injured: her teammate Justine Braisaz-Bouchet. The French Ski Association followed the court ruling with a one-month ban for Simon, which only expires after the competitions in Östersund. The case does not necessarily have to have a negative impact on the French team’s performance. Braisaz-Bouchet filed a complaint at the beginning of 2023, but the French women – with Simon and Braisaz-Bouchet – have won numerous relay races since then, including the world championship last year.
In the men’s category, the Norwegian brothers Tarjei and Johannes Thingnes Bø ended their careers. Johannes Thingnes, one of the most successful biathletes ever, abdicated. With 91 individual victories in the World Cup, he is only behind his compatriot Ole Einar Bj in the all-time rankingsørndalen (95 wins). Last season he was only beaten by Sturla Holm Lægreid, also from Norway.
Franziska Preuß from SC Haag starts the season as the defending champion of the overall women’s World Cup. At the World Cup final in Oslo, Preuß dramatically beat her direct competitor Lou Jeanmonnot from France – Jeanmonnot fell shortly before the finish.
The following runners complete the German women’s team in Östersund: Selina Grotian (SC Mittenwald), Vanessa Voigt (WSV Rotterode), Julia Tannheimer (DAV Ulm), Janina Hettich-Walz (SC Schönwald, after maternity leave), Marlene Fichtner (SC Traunstein) and Anna Weidel (WSV Kiefersfelden). Due to a new regulation that gives the nation of the overall World Cup winner an additional starting place in the first races, seven German runners will be at the start of the women’s individual races in Östersund.
The preseason was mixed for the men. In the overall World Cup ranking, no one made it into the top ten. Philipp Nawrath (SK Nesselwang) was the best DSV athlete in 14th place. Next to him, Justus Strelow (SG Stahl Schmiedeberg), Lucas Fratzscher (WSV Oberhof 05), Simon Kaiser (WSV Oberhof 05), Philipp Horn (SV Eintracht Frankenhain) and Danilo Riethmüller (WSV Clausthal-Zellerfeld) are taking part in the World Cup opener part.
The fact that the sport of biathlon continues to enjoy great popularity in Germany was confirmed by the “Loop One Festival” in the Olympic Park in Munich in October. There, thousands of spectators cheered on an excellent starting field that competed in a “super sprint” on roller skis. Justus Strelow came third in the men’s category, Anna Weidel, who stood in for the injured Franziska Preuß, came fourth in the women’s category. Both would certainly be happy with these placements in Östersund.
The highlight of this year’s biathlon season is of course not the World Cup races, but the Olympic competitions in Antholz in South Tyrol in February.
