The German biathletes clearly passed the podium at the end of the World Cup in Oslo.
The quartet with Erik Lesser (Frankenhain), Simon Schempp (Uhingen), Roman Rees (Schauinsland) and Olympic sprint winner Arnd Peiffer (Clausthal-Zellerfeld) had to make do with fifth place after 4×7.5 km and nine reloaders.
“I imagined it differently. If you need three reloaders for one disc, you can’t be satisfied,” said Peiffer on ARD television.
The Norwegians were 1’29.4″ behind the winner. Second place went to Austria (+50.3 seconds), the Russians (+56.9) completed the podium behind them.
Lesser and Schempp delivered successful performances and held the Bronze Relay of Pyeongchang in the top group at half-time. After that, however, Rees, the most inexperienced in the team, had to be knocked down and sent Peiffer into the track in fourth place. On his 31st birthday. But Peiffer missed the leap forward on his birthday.
In the coming week, the World Cup final will be held in Tyumen with the German ski hunters, which many nations will boycott in Russia due to the doping problem. Among others, the athletes from the USA, the Czech Republic and the Ukraine will stay away from the season finale.