Last World Cup of the year: rocket skis and good shooting: Horn sprints to fourth place

The wait continues for Philipp Horn, but the 30-year-old’s trend is finally pointing upwards again. At the start of the last Biathlon World Cup of the year in Le Grand-Bornand, the Thuringian finished fourth and missed his first podium in the A-League by 10.8 seconds. But a 90 percent hit performance and the fifth-best running time allow Horn to look ahead optimistically after weak seasonal performances and difficult times in recent years – especially since he broke the World Cup standard.

“There is a lot of relief now, because the norm is in the back of your mind and you want to establish yourself in the team,” said Horn, who had not expected such a “great day” after getting up in the face of constant rain in the French Alps. Horn had previously only finished between 17 and 32. He now goes into the pursuit on Saturday (12.30 p.m./ARD and Eurosport) in a good position, 29 seconds behind. As does sixth-placed Philipp Nawrath, who is 42 seconds behind sprint winner Martin Uldal from Norway. “It’s super cool to start so early in the pursuit. If I stay focused again, I can do a lot,” said Horn.

However, the top ten places cannot hide the once again mixed team results. Because Justus Strelow (0 errors/17th), Johannes Kühn (2/25th), Danilo Riethmüller (4/29th) and Simon Kaiser (3/39th) played no role at all in the fight for the top places. With Nawrath coming third in the sprint at the start of the season in Kontiolahti, there is still only one podium for national coach Uros Velepec’s protégés.

Horn finally wants to be at the top permanently

Horn once started out as a great talent, but he hasn’t made his breakthrough in the World Cup yet. In the meantime he started in the second-class IBU Cup and was not nominated for the World Championships and the Olympics. But now he finally showed off his running strength again. Also because the material worked perfectly in warm and rainy conditions. Unlike in the previous season, when the German ski hunters were not able to compete in terms of material under such conditions.

“I noticed after just 100 meters that the ski was running really well, it was damn fast,” reported Horn. Even with his one mistake, he is absolutely happy. He put him under pressure, but didn’t throw him off his rhythm. “I was still concentrated at the stand,” said Horn. What he often did wrong, being hectic and stressed at the shooting range, he did better this time.

Franziska Preuß wants to continue her strong start to the season on Friday (2:20 p.m./ARD and Eurosport) and defend the yellow jersey of the overall World Cup leaders. So far, the 30-year-old has achieved one win and two third places. Vanessa Voigt was also in top shape recently as second in the pursuit.