With good starting positions, the German biathlon aces start the pursuit – but then it goes backwards. Find Denise Herrmann-Wick, Benedikt Doll on an icy slope
Denise Herrmann-Wick looked for support on the outside lane on the “ice ramp” of Annecy-Le Grand Bornand and even tried it without using her legs in the sprint to the finish. The German model biathlete pulled out all the stops in the pursuit in borderline track conditions – but it didn’t help much. “It was quite difficult to even get an imprint with the skis. You kept slipping,” complained the 33-year-old: “It wasn’t for running.”
Robbed of her great strength, the Olympic champion fell back to seventh place one day after the best time and third place in the sprint after 10 kilometers. “We don’t have any steel edges, that was quite dangerous in the curves. It almost knocked me out when I walked in,” Herrmann-Wick complained on ARD: “I got to the finish line safely. You had to make sure you hit the discs and avoids every unnecessary meter.”
But even that didn’t really work with three errors. At the finish, the woman from Oberwiesenthal was 1:57.8 minutes behind the clear winner Elvira Öberg from Sweden, she lost more than a minute on the cross-country ski run alone. For the fact that she had “a disadvantage” with the material, “she did it properly,” said ARD expert Arnd Peiffer.
Franziska Preuss provided a German ray of hope with tenth place. The hopeful, who started the season late due to an infection, improved by 14 positions and grabbed half the norm for the home World Championships in Oberhof. Vanessa Voigt (2/ 3:21.2) in 17th place and Sophia Schneider (3/ 3:35.8) in 24th place also improved after a mixed sprint.
The German men also had to contend with the icy conditions when Norway’s Sturla Holm Lägreid won. Like Herrmann, Benedikt Doll was unable to improve on his good starting position from the sprint and even fell back from third to 18th place after five penalties. “I had the feeling that I wasn’t getting anywhere,” said the 32-year-old: “My stomach hurt from the second lap, it was a pretty terrible experience.”
Like all other German ski hunters, he lost well over a minute on the shortened trail alone. After a late night drop in temperature, the route resembled an “ice ramp”, reported DSV sports director Felix Bitterling: “These were borderline conditions. It was a material race.” Despite short-term preparation with salt, the men could not run an ascent with the following descent for safety reasons.
Roman Rees did best with the modified round, moving up from 27th to 13th with just one shooting error. “I’m very satisfied,” said Rees: “Physically, I felt much better than in the sprint.” At the end of the year, the first mass start races of the winter will take place on Sunday (12:10 p.m. and 2:15 p.m./ARD and Eurosport).