World Cup in Czech Republic
Without numerous stars: Biathlete Rees runs into the top ten
Many top athletes skip the stop in Nove Mesto. Not Eric Perrot. The Frenchman wins – and underlines his medal ambitions at the Olympics. German starters are also making people sit up and take notice.
In the absence of many Olympic starters, World Cup returnee Roman Rees secured a top ten placement from the perspective of the German Ski Association at the start of the biathlon dress rehearsal for the games in Italy. In a shortened individual race over 15 kilometers, the 32-year-old took seventh place as the best DSV athlete after only one miss. So far this winter he has only been used in the second-class IBU Cup.
Leonhard Pfund also left a strong impression on his debut at the highest level. The 22-year-old only missed twice in the last shooting and ended up in 13th place. The victory went to medal candidate Eric Perrot (0 shooting errors). His French compatriot Émilien Jacquelin (0) followed in second place ahead of Lukas Hofer (0) from Italy.
Not only were numerous top athletes missing from Nove Mesto in the Czech Republic, but many of the coaches and supervisors present were also not part of the regular World Cup staff.
Riethmüller with the best result of the season
Sports director Felix Bitterling had hoped for a “positive reaction” from Danilo Riethmüller (2), among others, to the fact that they were not taken into account for the annual highlight in Antholz. The 26-year-old showed this with his best result of the season in eleventh place. “The goal was to take part in the mass start,” Riethmüller told ARD. He will start there on Sunday together with Rees and Pfund.
Veteran Johannes Kühn had to settle for 51st place after five missed shots. The athletes received a 45-second penalty for each mistake. After their previous appearances in the IBU Cup, Pfund and Elias Seidel (69./6) now got a taste of World Cup air for the first time. Simon Kaiser (77th) had big problems at the shooting range, he missed nine targets.
Unlike Riethmüller, Lucas Fratzscher, Philipp Nawrath, Justus Strelow, David Zobel and Philipp Horn were named to the Olympic squad this week. The latter could still be used in the Czech Republic after he was recently absent due to illness.
dpa
