After several weak shootings, the German biathlon relay narrowly missed the podium. Johannes Kühn misses six slices.
The German biathletes missed the podium at the end of the World Cup due to several weak shootings. In the season of the men, David Zobel, Philipp Nawrath, Johannes Kühn and Philipp Horn finished fourth.
After 4×7.5 kilometers and ten loading, from which four penalty rounds resulted, just under twelve seconds were missing on the podium.
The French (0 penalty rounds+4 followers) clearly won ahead of Norway (1+8/+1: 26.6 minutes) and Ukraine (0+7/+2: 45.4 minutes). It was the fifth prank for France in the previous five relay races of the World Cup season. Only at the World Cup was Norway at the front.
The German start runner David Zobel already had powerful problems at the shooting range. At the first standing stop, he took the first penalty round. “The wind was already the main reason, but four mistakes must not happen,” said Zobel in the ARD : “The athletes next to me also managed it. I just brutally wobbled and showed my team a real fight. ”
Biathlon: Kühn shoots six times
Johannes Kühn, who scored three penalty rounds, acted even weaker. Kühn, who started as the third runner, initially had problems with the change and fell. But with a strong lying shooting and a good mileage, he fought his way back to the podium.
But then he delivered a catastrophic standing shooting. Kühn put all five shots over. “We don’t need the confirmation here now,” said ARD commentator Wilfried Hark, who had previously mentioned Kühn’s weak quota of 70 percent in standing shooting: “Erik Lesser frowns here. That can’t be true. There are already two penalty rounds. “
The first relief also missed the goal. With the last two loads, he at least ran some damage limitation, but still had to go into the penalty three times.
“Phew, the first goal with the seventh shot. That is a rare balance, ”said Hark and immediately wrote down a podium:“ Madness. Just ran in third place, now everything is for nothing. “
ARD expert Erik Lesser was also disappointed: “Of course, the mood is now in the basement. We really had the chance back to third place. “
Kühn: “It was very, very bad”
Kühn himself had a clear explanation for his weak shooting: “As a third party, I came to the shooting range and have previously considered whether I should overtake the Italian. Actually, I wanted to stay behind it, but then he almost stopped and then I had to pass. The wind then comes to the left from right and then I wobbled. “
Because the two leading runners from France and Norway had already left the shooting range, he was the first point of attack in the wind.
“Then the wind was gone and then it went,” said Kühn, but also showed himself self -critical: “Of course that was very, very bad.”
For Erik Lesser, the wind must not be an excuse, as he explained after the race: “There were other runners in the wind who shot significantly better.”
The final runner Horn almost runs on the podium
The final runner Horn suddenly caught up after mistakes from the Swiss and Italians and had realistic chances of the podium on the final round. “There are chances of third place. Thunder weather. That was actually ticked off twice, ”said ARD commentator Hark.
But Horn no longer came to the Ukrainian on the final round and had to be satisfied with fourth place.
In the individual competitions in the Czech Republic, none of the athletes of the German Ski Association (DSV) had reached the top 15. In the persecution, Horn was in 19th place in the best German. Strelow, which was missing in the season due to a light sore throat, took the same place at the sprint.