Biathlete Johannes Kühn (Reit im Winkl) missed the first World Cup victory of his career by only 4.2 seconds. At the season opener in Pokljuka, Slovenia, the 27-year-old was in the lead in the singles over 20 km until shortly before the end – before the seven-time overall World Cup winner Martin Fourcade (France) pushed him to second place.
“It’s a pity, because it was so tight. But still I am superhappy”, Kühn said after the best result of his career on ARD: “It’s great that shooting works so well. It would be nice if it always stayed that way.”
Kühn remained flawless like Fourcade, the dominator of the past years already celebrated the 71st World Cup victory of his career. Third place went to the Austrian Simon Eder (+19.7), who also took all 20 shots at the finish.
Kühn, who only made his breakthrough in the first league of ski hunters last season, had never conquered the podium before. The best placement of the Bavarian before the singles on Thursday was a fifth place in the mass start, which he reached in January in Antholz.
Besides Kühn, only Simon Schempp (Uhingen) showed an attractive performance. The 30-year-old had injured his shoulder in a cycling accident in spring and was unable to shoot for several weeks – the fact that he only missed one shot and ended up in fifth place testified to his class.
Erik Lesser (Frankenhain/2) finished 23rd, his new sire Arnd Peiffer (Clausthal-Zellerfeld/3rd) only finished 52nd. Benedikt Doll (Breitnau/5) finished 58th, World Cup newcomer Philipp Horn (Frankenhain/5) finished 77th.
At 2.15 pm (here in the LIVETICKER) the women compete over 15 km in their individual race. The first World Cup of this season will continue on Friday and Saturday with the sprints (both 14.15 hrs), before the pursuit races (from 11.45 hrs) will be held on Sunday.