Biathlete Philipp Horn has to wait seven years until he can finally enjoy this feeling. In Hochfilzen, the German veteran climbed a World Cup podium for the first time. His real weakness becomes a strength in this race.
Philipp Horn gave the German biathlon team the desired exclamation mark with the first podium finish of his career. The 31-year-old came third in the Hochfilzen sprint and gave the DSV ski hunters their first sense of achievement in the Olympic winter.
At the start of the second World Cup weekend in Austria, the Thuringian only had to admit defeat to Tommaso Giacomel from Italy and Eric Perrot from France.
After ten kilometers, Horn was only six seconds behind the winner, while the strong running Horn was only two seconds behind Perrot. The trio remained flawless. Horn was the only one of the German sextet to clear all ten targets. The Thuringian therefore has promising prospects for the pursuit on Saturday (12 p.m./ARD and Eurosport).
Horn has been part of the DSV World Cup team since 2018 and is considered very strong on the cross-country ski trails, but his performance on the shooting range was too often poor. The skills with the rifle have recently stabilized, as the flawless performance on Friday underlines.
Preuß and Grotian are canceled due to Corona
Horn celebrated his greatest successes to date primarily in the German relays with bronze medals at the 2020 World Championships in Antholz and 2025 in Lenzerheide. In addition, there are early overall victories in the German Cup and Alpine Cup as well as several medals at the European Championships, which are second-class in biathlon. His best individual placement in the World Cup to date was sixth place in the mass start in Oberhof in 2020.
It is questionable whether the German women in Hochfilzen will do so well. With overall World Cup winner Franziska Preuß and Selina Grotian, two athletes are out of the second World Cup of the Olympic winter. World champion Preuß is not able to compete after a corona infection. Grotian announced on Instagram that her illness also turned out to be a corona infection.
SUF
