In the sprint of Oslo the German women almost disappoint through the bench at the shooting range. Laura Dahlmeier disappoints in 28th place. After all, the men were happy about three athletes in the top 15. Arnd Peiffer finished sixth and was thus the best German.
Laura Dahlmeier wiped her mouth off after a disappointing race, strapped her skis off her feet and quickly unhooked the Oslo biathlon sprint. For the double Olympic champion, another victory in the overall World Cup after her 28th World Cup has been announced. The second place – their second worst result of the season – is a long way off. While only Franziska Hildebrand convinced the women, the men brought three athletes into the top 15.
“It’s a shame, of course, to waste all chances on a prone shooting,” Dahlmeier said on ARD television about her two mistakes at the prone attack. In the overall World Cup, the Partenkirchen rider is 94 points behind sprint winner Anastasiya Kuzmina (1) in four remaining races – only 240 points can be scored at most.
But the seven-time world champion was not the only athlete of the German Ski Association (DSV) who fired a weak shot on Thursday. Vanessa Hinz (Schliersee/25.), who won her first World Cup race in the mass start at Kontiolahti in Finland on Sunday, shot two tickets like Franziska Preuß (Haag/30.), Denise Herrmann (Oberwiesenthal/43.) and Maren Hammerschmidt (Winterberg/50.) missed four times. Only Franziska Hildebrand (Clausthal-Zellerfeld) remained flawless and was the sixth result cosmetic for the DSV.
The men showed themselves to be more accurate at the shooting range. Olympic champion Arnd Peiffer (Clausthal-Zellerfeld) had to enter the penalty round once and became sixth best German. World Champion Benedikt Doll (Breitnau/1) was happy about his best sprint result of the season in ninth place, also the 13th place. Roman Rees (Schauinsland/0) had never been better placed over the 10 km this winter.
“It was again a solid performance. 90 per cent hit performance, a good mileage, you can be quite satisfied”, said Peiffer: “Of course you have to deal with the one mistake when you’re so close behind”.
Erik Lesser, who after two shooting mistakes only 36. and mass start world champion Simon Schempp (Uhingen/4) in 53rd place. Johannes Kühn (Reit im Winkl/+2:21,2) had to go into the penalty round five times and missed out in 63rd place. even the qualification for persecution. On the other hand, the hosts celebrated a great cheer: At the legendary Holmenkollen the Norwegians celebrated a double triumph after Henrik L’Abee-Lund (0)’s first victory ahead of Johannes Thingnes Bö (1).
Peiffer, who is 17 seconds behind L’Abee-Lund, has the best chance of clinching a top position in the pursuit on Saturday (3.15 pm). However, the prospects for DSV athletes are very poor. Dahlmeier enters the race on Sunday (12.00 o’clock) 1’31” behind Kuzmina, even Hildebrand has 46 seconds to catch up with the new wearer of the yellow jersey.
On Friday the biathletes will have the opportunity to catch their breath, the next races on Saturday will be with the women’s relay (12.30 pm) and the men’s pursuer. On Sunday, after the women’s hunting race, the men’s relay (2.45 p.m.) will conclude the second last World Cup of the winter.