Vanessa Hinz crosses the finish line, kneels and clenches her hand into a fist. The biathlete is noticeably satisfied with her appearance in the sprint race on Friday. She brought the hoped-for good start to the 2020 World Championships in Antholz / South Tyrol.
In the spectacular competition with many shooting errors and a large loss of favorites, Hinz missed two shots and ended up in 14th place. The top 15 position not only means a good starting position for the pursuit race on Sunday, but also offers the Schliersee woman the chance to get ready for the mass start qualify at the end of the title fights.
"I'm really happy with the race," says Hinz. "At altitude you have to walk more slowly to the shooting range because your pulse will go up much faster." Both overall World Cup leader Tiril Eckhoff (Norway) and local hero Dorothea Wierer had nothing to do with the medal ranks. The Norwegian Marte Olsbu Roeiseland won ahead of Susan Dunklee (USA) and Lucie Charvatova (Czech Republic). The German medal hope Denise Herrmann slipped from third to fifth, teammate Franziska Preuss finished eighth.
Hinz started late at number 62 and had noticed that the favorites stumbled at the shooting range. “I was somewhat lucky in standing shooting. It was windless, ”says the biathlete from SC Schliersee. On the final lap, the 27-year-old was able to make up four places. In the pursuit on Sunday (1 p.m.) she is 49 seconds behind on the trail.