Seven-time biathlon world champion Laura Dahlmeier missed her second victory of the season by eight tenths of a second at the World Cup in Ruhpolding.
In the final mass start over 12.5 km, the 24-year-old finished second after two shooting mistakes behind Kaisa Mäkäräinen (Finland/2), thus giving the DSV the first single podium finish of the Olympic year. Third place went to the Czech Veronika Vitkova (2/+4.6 seconds).
The decision was made only at the last meters when Mäkäräinen pulled in the final spurt and a small but decisive gap broke. Dahlmeier tried everything, but had not enough to counteract the increase in tempo.
Denise Herrmann (Oberwiesenthal/4) also came in fifth. Maren Hammerschmidt (Winterberg/11.), but above all Franziska Hildebrand (Clausthal-Zellerfeld/19.) and Vanessa Hinz (Schliersee/21.) fell short of their own expectations.
Dahlmeier had experienced an alternating bath of emotions in the Chiemgau. After the indisputable 48. The fifth place in the singles, the worst result of her career, the five-time world champion of Hochfilzen led the German women’s relay team to victory on Saturday. However, the race on Sunday did not start as planned.
Dahlmeier, who occasionally wobbled at the shooting range in the course of the season, made a penalty round at her first attack.
However, since she was able to place the second five cartridges in a commanding position at the finish line, the Bavarian made seconds and positions good – rank four stood to account for halftime.
After the flawless third shooting, the German improved by another two places, together with the strong Mäkäräinen and Darja Domratschewa (Belarus) Dahlmeier took up the pursuit of the Canadian Rosanna Crawford leading at that time.
During the last shooting, Domratschewa, Dahlmeier and Mäkäräinen said goodbye to the trio at the last shooting, overtook Crawford, and made the victory among themselves.