Gold for Dahlmeier, bronze for Doll

With the German flag in hand, superstar Laura Dahlmeier stormed to her second gold medal, shortly afterwards Benedikt Doll beamed with bronze. Three gold and one bronze in the first four decisions in South Korea – it hardly gets better.

In the pursuit races on Monday, Germany’s flagship ski hunter Dahlmeier started again, winning after ten kilometers despite a shooting error with a large lead over the two-time Olympic champion Anastasiya Kuzmina from Slovakia and the French Anais Bescond. This makes the 24-year-old the first biathlete to achieve the double of sprint and pursuit at the same Winter Games. Only record-breaking Olympic champion Ole Einar Björndalen from Norway had managed such a feat.

But at a freezing minus twelve degrees, Dahlmeier really had to suffer for her second triumph. “It was a really, really tough race, unbelievable! My fingers just thawed, they were in pain worse than any race before. It was abnormal now,” said the woman from Partenkirch, who canceled her planned appearance in the ZDF studio a little later. “She’s just completely gone. It has somewhat reduced the celebration of the second gold medal,” explained Stefan Schwarzbach, the press spokesman for the German Ski Association, the waiver in front of the camera.

After the 24-year-old had completed the media marathon after winning the pursuit, she had to lie down exhausted for the doping control. “The cold just eats away. She was in really bad pain because of the cold,” Schwarzbach told the German Press Agency. The waiver of the television appearance is purely a precautionary measure. “We have learned from the experience of Hochfilzen,” said Schwarzbach. At the World Championships last February in Tyrol, Germany’s athlete of the year collapsed twice after a competition – but she still won a medal in each of the six races. Dahlmeier was the first in the biathlon circus to win five gold and one silver at a World Cup.

Sprint world champion Doll also suffered. After the race, he feared for his health in the PyeongChang freezer, despite the heat pads in both gloves, his left hand froze: “I hope I don’t get sick. My throat is scratching already. It’s hard on the body.” Nevertheless, he celebrated bronze after 12.5 kilometers behind the outstanding Frenchman Martin Fourcade and Sweden’s Sebastian Samuelsson. Doll was still on course for silver after the fourth shooting, but the Swede fought his way up and passed.

“I’m not upset that I lost the silver medal. A childhood dream has come true,” said the Black Forester after his first Olympic medal. Simon Schempp, sprint Olympic champion Arnd Peiffer and Erik Lesser completed the excellent team result in fifth, eighth and eleventh place. “I think it’s great that Benni managed to win the medal today,” said Peiffer.

Behind Dahlmeier, ex-cross-country skier Denise Herrmann was the second-best German in sixth place. “It’s incredible. She’s in such a good mood and has such strength mentally. She doesn’t give the competition a chance and is deservedly at the top again,” said Herrmann about Dahlmeier. Franziska Hildebrand was twelfth, Vanessa Hinz came in 13th.

A year ago at the World Championships in Hochfilzen, Dahlmeier set records almost playfully at the age of 23, which will probably last for a very long time. With five gold and one silver, she won a medal in all six races at the World Championships in Hochfilzen. Nobody in the biathlon circus has ever won five World Championship titles in one event or eleven World Championship medals in a row. At major events, she managed to win a medal in 13 races in a row. This is also unmatched so far.

Dahlmeier is now well on the way to becoming the big star of PyeongChang as well – four more medal chances are still waiting for her. So far, the most successful German ski hunter at an Olympic event is Michael Greis, who won three gold medals at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin – in the individual, in the mass start and in the relay.

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