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Johannes Thingnes Bø defied all odds in Ruhpolding
Photo: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images
Technical breakdowns caused major problems at the Biathlon World Cup in Ruhpolding.
ARD also had to interrupt its live broadcast of the men's individual race several times, first apologizing for this with an overlay and then showing substitute contributions in which ARD presenter Michael Antwerpes visited former athletes at their homes in midsummer.
The live scoring in the stadium was also canceled, but the timekeeping continued.
On the other hand, the light at the shooting range didn't work either.
The race should still be counted regularly.
Norway's biathlon star Johannes Thingnes Bø didn't let any of this stop him.
Despite two penalty minutes, he celebrated his 60th World Cup victory in 48:48.4 minutes. This winter he has already won eight of eleven individual races.
Doll with a good sixth place
Behind them, compatriot Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen and Slovenian Jakov Fak landed on the podium in front of 10,000 spectators.
Benedikt Doll was sixth as the best German.
Roman Rees in 13th and Johannes Kühn in 17th also achieved remarkable results from a German point of view. David Zobel also scored good points in difficult track conditions and mild snow-free temperatures in 23rd.
A power outage throughout the stadium was apparently the cause of the problems.
All monitors also failed.
Just a few minutes after power was restored, two more failures followed and the transmission was interrupted again.
In the sequel, commenting on this was only possible via mobile phone.
The TV station Eurosport, which also broadcasts from Ruhpolding, was also affected and showed snooker.
aha/dpa/sid
