Biathlon national coach Mark Kirchner drove his protégé Simon Schempp with roar up the last climb, the mass start world champion flew with massive stick blows to the finish line. Despite a strong performance with a flawless shooting result, Schempp missed his first podium position of the season in fourth place again. At the end, Antonin Guigonnat (France/0) was only 7.1 seconds short of the surprisingly third-placed Antonin Guigonnat.
“So far, I’ve been able to manage well in the sprint, and today I’ve been able to do it again,”said Schempp, who finished fourth last weekend in Hochfilzen in the sprint and in the pursuit as well, on ZDF. At the start of the World Cup in Östersund he had already finished fifth on the short distance:”Today I finally made zero mistakes, which is a great shooting result. I am very satisfied,”said the 29-year-old with a smile.
At the World Cups in Sweden and Austria, the Uhinger never got through without a miss, in Annecy he felt very comfortable at the shooting range. I’ve changed a little bit compared to the last few races,”said Schempp, without revealing his secret of success.
Once again Johannes Thingnes Bö. The Norwegian remained immaculate in the shooting and also set another exclamation point with the best running time. For the 24-year-old, it was his fourth victory of the season, the 17th. of his career.
“The French superstar Martin Fourcade said,”With zero mistakes at the shooting range, Bö is currently unbeatable. In the sixth race of the Olympic Winter, the dominator of the past few years was on the podium for the sixth time, but he had to make do with second place for the third time,”I mustn’t allow myself to make a mistake if Fourcade sits directly on my back,”Bö replied.
The other runners of the German Ski Association (DSV) missed the top 10. Benedikt Doll (Breitnau/2) in twelfth place with a strong mileage achieved half the standard for the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang (9th place). till 25. February). Arnd Peiffer (Clausthal-Zellerfeld) came 22nd after an error in the standing attack.
Erik Lesser (Frankenhain) had to make do with the penalty round three times and finished 44th. Johannes Kühn (Reit im Winkl/2) finished 38th, Philipp Nawrath (Nesselwang/1) finished 59th.
On Thursday, seven-time World Champion Laura Dahlmeier gave the DSV a podium finish in the French Alps with her second place in the sprint.
At the third World Cup of the Olympic Winter on Saturday the pursuit races are scheduled. The women start at 11.45 a. m. (ZDF and Eurosport), the men start at 2.45 p. m. on the cross-country skiing trail. On Sunday, the mass start for women (11.45 a. m.) and men (14.30 p. m.) will conclude the day.