Quo vadis DSV team?

Biathletes out of shape before the World Cup

Created: 2023-01-09 14:06

By: Melanie Gottschalk

Shortly before the Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof, the German skiers are out of shape.

Too many mistakes are made, especially on the shooting range.

Ruhpolding - A month before the start of the Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof, Thuringia, the German biathletes are not yet in top form.

On the first World Cup weekend in Pokljuka, Slovenia, the DSV skiers did not finish on the podium for the first time this season, and the single mixed and mixed relay fell well short of their expectations.

In the single mixed relay, Justus Strelow and Janina Hettich-Walz finished 13th, had one penalty and a total of nine spares.

Clearly too many mistakes to be able to keep up at the front.

The German mixed quartet with Roman Rees, Benedikt Doll, Sophia Schneider and Denise Herrmann-Wick had a similar experience.

Due to two penalties and eleven spare rounds, the DSV team had to settle for fifth place in the end.

Biathlon: Doll makes too many mistakes when shooting

"It certainly didn't work out as we had hoped," said sports director Felix Bitterling after the race.

Particularly bitter: Benedikt Doll had created a good starting position for the pursuit with his fourth place in the sprint, but made two penalties in the first shooting and was then able to bury all hopes of a podium finish.

He ended up eleventh.

"After the good starting position, we had already flirted with the podium a bit," said Bitterling.

Benedikt Doll could not convince at the first World Cup weekend of 2023.

© Andrei Tarfila/imago

Bitterling was "hugely" happy about the performance of Johannes Kühn in the pursuit, who shot clean and advanced from 44th to 12th place.

"My only goal was to show what I can do in a competition," said Kühn.

So far not much has come together for the 31-year-old in this biathlon winter.

"I wanted to do better.

That wasn't that difficult.

Maybe I just got lucky today.”

Biathlon: Herrmann-Wick missed the podium due to shooting errors

Germany's flagship biathlete and Olympic champion Denise Herrmann-Wick seemed to be in good shape, but now she's struggling at the shooting range.

On the other hand, things are going really well on the cross-country ski run, and she even managed the fastest runtime in the sprint.

But two misses wiped out a podium finish, and she finished sixth.

“Having the fastest runtime is really cool.

But two mistakes are one too many for the podium,” said Herrman-Wick afterwards on ARD.

It was a similar picture in the pursuit, where she ended up seventh.

Shortly before the Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof, these achievements must not get stuck in the minds of the German ski hunters.

"Clean your mouth, analyze and regenerate a bit," said sports director Bitterling after the World Cup weekend in Slovenia.

Sports director Bitterling: "We make it too difficult for ourselves at the shooting range"

At the home World Cup in Ruhpolding this week (Wednesday, January 11th to Sunday, January 15th) they want to be at the front again.

"It's not that we're in terrible shape," he said.

"But we make it too difficult for ourselves on the shooting range and make one or two mistakes too many at the wrong moment." It is now important to get these mistakes under control before the Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof.

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For the German biathlete Franziska Preuss, however, time is running out until the Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof.

She had to completely cancel the World Cup weekend in Slovenia due to an infection.

Whether she can be back at the home World Cup in Ruhpolding is still questionable.

She was already struggling with health problems at the beginning of the season and is also looking for form.

(msb)