Franziska Preuß falters again at the shooting range and misses a good placement. Her teammates also disappoint in Dorothea Wierer’s victory.
Overall World Cup winner Franziska Preuß has suffered another setback in the first Biathlon World Cup individual race of the Olympic winter over 15 km.
The 31-year-old finished in a sobering 29th place in Östersund, Sweden, in the victory of Italian Dorothea Wierer.
As she did at the start on Saturday, the ambitious Preuß had problems with shooting, especially in difficult wind conditions. She made four mistakes.
Problems already in the relay
Preuß had already experienced a bitter disappointment with the relay in eleventh place. She even had to go to the penalty loop once there.
In the individual event on Tuesday, the Bavarian was a full 3:09.1 minutes behind the 35-year-old Wierer, who celebrated her 17th career victory after difficult times.
Wierer wins injured
The 35-year-old won with two shooting errors just ahead of the surprisingly strong Sonja Leinamo from Finland (1/+0.3 seconds) and the French Camille Bened (1/+8.4), who also sensationally made it onto the podium.
Wierer said after the race that she wasn’t even sure on the morning of the competition day whether she could start at all.
“I didn’t even know if I should start today because I had a sore throat and a bit of a cold,” explained the Italian on ZDF .
Finnish woman narrowly misses sensation
The Finn Leinamo could almost have celebrated her first World Cup victory in Northern Sweden. Her previous best position was in Oberhof last season with an eighth place in the sprint.
“I still can’t believe it. To be honest, I didn’t know anything about it until the last shooting. And then my coach informed me that I was winning. And I said: ‘What?'” Leinamo said after the race on ZDF .
Bened’s third place also comes as a surprise: The Frenchwoman started her first full season in the World Cup on Tuesday. Last season she only started in Oslo, where she was already able to shine with a 13th, 15th and 16th place.
German team far behind
The German team had some problems at the shooting range and therefore had nothing to do with the top placements.
Janina Hettich-Walz, who made four mistakes, was the best biathlete of the German Ski Association (DSV) in 17th place. Vanessa Voigt (3), Marlene Fichtner (5), Selina Grotian (6), Anna Weidel (8) and Julia Tannheimer (9) finished behind Preuß.
Tannheimer was particularly symbolic of the German problems at the shooting range. In the second shooting, the 20-year-old put four out of five projectiles next to the targets.
“I don’t think I was particularly unlucky. The wind unsettled me more than it really made a difference. I thought more about the wind than about my shots. That was the mistake,” said Tannheimer to ZDF.
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