Dhe golden shine of Denise Herrmann’s individual triumph is becoming weaker and weaker after the next moderate Olympic performance of the German biathletes. In the pursuit race on Sunday, none of the quartet for the individual Olympic champion in China made it into the top ten. In twelfth place, Vanessa Voigt with one miss and 2:48.4 minutes behind was the best finisher.
The unusual snowfall in Zhangjiakou – precipitation in the dry region is extremely rare – presented the material managers with a tricky task. Finally, fresh snow covered the cross-country ski trails that were prepared with artificial snow, and the temperatures of around twelve degrees below zero were also significantly lower than on the previous days.
“I wasn’t at all competitive with the material,” Herrmann complained in an unusually clear way on ARD. Despite three penalties, the 33-year-old had moved up from 22nd to 17th place. Maybe there could have been more, but not with the noticeably weak material under her feet. “I felt good,” said the Saxon: “But if everything doesn’t really fit together, it will be difficult to make up time. Today we were really, really far away from the music.”
Norway’s Marte Olsbu Röiseland took her third gold after winning the mixed relay and sprint. As in the sprint, the Swede Elvira Öberg secured silver, 1:36.5 minutes behind. Bronze went to World Champion Tiril Eckhoff from Norway, 12.2 seconds behind.
On the final lap, Eckhoff overtook her compatriot Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, who was still third after the last shooting, but then only staggered on the last kilometer and made it to the finish line in 14th place with the last remaining strength and a deficit of 2:53 minutes . The 25-year-old collapsed exhausted and had to be treated.
Completely exhausted: Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold had to be treated
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Image: Reuters
Franziska Preuß, who was sentenced to spectating for a long time before the Olympics, achieved her best result so far in 15th place, but was 2:58.7 minutes behind the winner despite only one shooting error. Herrmann came in 17th after three mistakes, 3:20.7 minutes behind, Vanessa Hinz was 21st – although she only missed once in twenty attempts, the gap to Röiseland, who was also much better at running, was 3:34.1 minutes.
Right at the front, Röiseland snagged another gold after a failed attempt in the first standing stage and underlined her status as the clear best in the pursuit this winter. The 31-year-old follows Laura Dahlmeier, who triumphed in Pyeongchang four years ago. Behind them the cards were reshuffled – mainly because the sprint second Elvira Öberg had to do three penalty loops. But in the end she saved her second silver. Herrmann initially jumped up to twelfth place. However, she was still 45 seconds short of bronze before she had two more penalties in the final standing stage.
All four in the mass start
At least the German women’s quartet of Denise Herrmann, Vanessa Voigt, Franziska Preuss and Vanessa Hinz qualified for the final biathlon individual race at the Winter Olympics in China. All four are taking part in the mass start race, in which only 30 athletes are allowed to compete on Saturday (10 a.m. CET in the FAZ live ticker for the Olympics, on ARD and on Eurosport). The biathlon competitions of the Winter Games end with the women’s mass start.
