Franziska Hildebrand’s smile fell at temperatures well below freezing point. So heavy that only a glance at the score board made her expression a little brighter.
“It’s really nice that the 13th. The 30-year-old, who at the Biathlon World Cup in Östersund as the best German, broke half the Olympic norm, said:”I think and hope that things will continue like this.
A podium finish, perhaps even a German victory, had been practically impossible in the absence of Laura Dahlmeier, who had caught a cold. However, it was quite surprising that relay world champion Hildebrand would deliver the most pleasing result for the German Ski Association (DSV).
After all, she had to struggle with an ankle injury in the summer, so for a long time she was only able to train in a controlled manner – the question mark before her first appearance in the Olympic Winter was correspondingly large.
“But I didn’t really notice anything during the race,”said Hildebrand, who caused much more problems at the shooting range with the rough polar air in central Sweden,”It was really cold for the first time this winter. Everyone fights with cold hands, which makes shooting even more difficult,”said the sports soldier from the WSV Clausthal Zellerfeld with a view to temperatures of minus eleven degrees Celsius.
Of a total of 20 shots, however, the German missed only one shot, which unfortunately was directly sanctioned with a minute’s penalty. The three female athletes on the podium – surprisingly Nadeschda Skardino from Belarus won the race, followed by Synnoeve Solemdal (Norway) and Juliia Dzhima (Ukraine) – were all without any mistakes.
The success of Dahlmeier (Partenkirchen) in the previous year thus remains the only one from the past ten years at the start of a season. The seven-time world champion, who had won the singles in Hochfilzen in February, is missing in central Sweden because of an infection. She will presumably be at the next World Cup in Hochfilzen (8. till 10. December) will make its debut.
Without the 24-year-old Karolin Horchler (Clausthal-Zellerfeld) was the second best German behind Hildebrand in 19th place. Denise Herrmann (Oberwiesenthal/23.), Franziska Preuß (Haag/30.), Maren Hammerschmidt (Winterberg/35.) and Vanessa Hinz (Schliersee/46.) were disappointed. On Friday the women’s sprint continues for 7.5 km.
Herrmann presented the best running time of all 102 starters, but made four shooting mistakes:”One, two mistakes less would have been quite good. But I know I’m in good shape and I’m looking forward to the sprint,”said the former cross-country skier. After months of break due to illness, Preuß spoke of a “solid race. I’m now looking to get more momentum from race to race.”
The DSV will be represented with its best athletes at the men’s classic over 20 km on Thursday at 5.15 pm. Mass start world champion Simon Schempp (Uhingen), who had been spared in the mixed relay teams, also wants to challenge the eternal rival and six-time overall World Cup winner Martin Fourcade (France).
“I’m still as ambitious and hungry as before,” said Schempp, who won his first individual medal in Hochfilzen this February, to the SID:”Unfortunately, you don’t really know what the form is until after the first race has been completed.