Biathlon World Cup
Preuss achieves Olympic standard – Strelow beaten by 0.5 seconds
Biathlete Franziska Preuß is slowly getting going after her forced break. She can tick off a big topic. Meanwhile, Justus Strelow just missed the podium.
With the Olympic standard in her luggage, last-minute shopper Franziska Preuß can now buy her last Christmas presents in a relaxed manner. Thanks to sixth place in the mass start at Le Grand-Bornand, the 31-year-old got her ticket for the Winter Games in Italy and, after her compulsory break due to illness, gained the necessary self-confidence with an eye on the season’s highlight in Antholz.
“I’m relieved that I got the standard before Christmas and the plan worked. It’s always in the back of my mind,” said Preuss. In what was only her fourth race of the season, like Vanessa Voigt (7th) and Anna Weidel (10th), she at least sent a signal of caution. As did the flawless Justus Strelow, who, however, lost third place to the Norwegian Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen by the tiniest 0.5 seconds at the finish line.
The German team’s conclusion is sobering
That gives some confidence, but after the first three World Cups the conclusion is sobering. Seven weeks before the first Olympic competition in South Tyrol, the DSV team has only two third places to its name, thanks to Philipp Horn and the women’s relay team. Overall, the German team has only achieved 15 top ten places in the 16 individual races so far. Germany is not represented in the top ten in either overall World Cup.
“I’m not really worried yet, we haven’t got off to a good start as we would like,” said sports director Felix Bitterling, who is leaving at the end of the season, on ZDF. Overall, the world leaders have moved closer together: “You have to do the best you can to get on the podium, and we haven’t succeeded enough in that.”
Claims and reality don’t match
For the Germans, the two parts of the service still rarely go together. Horn, for example, is one of the absolute top runners, but his hit rate is only a good 80 percent. The men under the new national coach Tobias Reiter had set themselves a major task in shooting, and are now working with a sports psychologist. But the very strong training performances are still too rarely confirmed in competition.
“Our fast runners Nawrath and Horn have to get into position for a podium more often. The door opens regularly, especially at the shooting range, but we miss too many chances,” confessed Bitterling. In the mass start, both had to do four penalty laps.
In addition, the competition from Norway, France and Sweden is once again delivering consistently. Norway already has 19 podiums (7 wins) like France (6 wins), Sweden has eleven.
Bringing running and shooting together
Even in the French Alps, only Preuss and Strelow were among the best to be honored; Strelow achieved the best German result overall. After the corona and influenza infection, Preuß only missed once, which gave him more and more self-confidence. With a view to the home World Cups in January in Oberhof and Ruhpolding, she now wants to work on her running form so that she is no longer a victim on the track and can attack again.
The women also have to deliver better complex performances if they want to play a role at the Winter Games. Youngster Julia Tannheimer only has a hit rate of 73 percent, so her running skills (among the top 10) don’t pay off. Janina Hettich-Walz also didn’t manage to convert her good running form into something countable during her comeback after her maternity leave.
She still lacks the Olympic standard that Preuß, Tannheimer, Voigt and Weidel have in their pockets for women. For the men, Horn, Nawrath and Strelow achieved this goal. The performance of Danilo Riethmüller, whose best result to date was a 25th place, raises questions here. It remains to be seen how Selina Grotian will return to Oberhof after her Corona break from January 8th.
Christmas is celebrated with caution
Now Preuß & Co. are looking forward to the short Christmas break. This comes with major restrictions for the world pursuit champion. In order not to get sick again, she only meets with the family outside and at a distance. At home we sleep in separate rooms. “Fortunately, I have a partner at home who completely understands this and will go through with it with me,” said Preuß on ZDF about her long-term partner Simon Schempp.
dpa
