Biathlon: 3.7 seconds missing for victory: Lesser rushes to third place in Östersund

Erik Lesser shook his head briefly, but shortly afterwards the joy prevailed: With an impressive energy output, the 29-year-old rushed to third place at the Biathlon World Cup in Östersund.

After 10 km and a shooting mistake, Lesser had to admit defeat in the sprint only to the victorious Norwegian Tarjei Boe and the French dominator Martin Fourcade – a ludicrous 3.7 seconds were missing for success.

“I’m not 100% satisfied,”Lesser told ZDF. The misfire hit him with the last bullet, of all things.

“If I know beforehand that I’m making a mistake, I’d rather miss the last one. But after the single and today I know that things are going really well”, said Lesser.

Simon Schempp, actually the German number one, was also convincing and narrowly missed the podium in fifth place. The pleasing German result was rounded off by Johannes Kühn as ninth with his best World Cup result and half the Olympic norm.

Lesser was still annoyed at the finish at the first moment, because the former world champion missed the target by a hair’s breadth with his last bullet.

Thanks to his surprisingly good running condition, he had the third World Cup victory in sight for a long time, he even went to the final round with a slight advantage over Boe and Fourcade. While the German there, however, was “only” constantly fast, his opponents ignited the turbo.

That Lesser is nevertheless to be expected this winter, he had already indicated in the (unloved) classic over 20 km on Thursday.

There he had missed a podium position because of two shooting mistakes at the last attack. In the hunting races on Sunday (15.15 o’ clock in the LIVETICKER) both Lesser and Schempp are hot candidates at least for the podium.

This should reassure Schempp above all, because the world champion in the mass start had travelled to Sweden with a few question marks.

Although he was still the best DSV athlete in the singles, the last kick was missing on the cross-country skiing track. On Saturday he was again the best German runner “It was much better today. It would of course be very nice if things could continue like this,”said Schempp.

At the end of the first World Cup in the Olympic winter, the pursuit races are scheduled for Sunday. From 1.15 pm (in the LIVETICKER) the women, led by sprint winner Denise Herrmann, go to the cross-country skiing trail.

“This will be a whole new experience. I want to run my race again, I know what I can do. And then we’ll see,”said Herrmann after her first World Cup victory.

Next week the second World Cup of the season will take place in Hochfilzen. Then the seven-time world champion Laura Dahlmeier will probably also celebrate her season debut after having survived a cold.