Biathletes celebrate a “fucking medal” (nd-aktuell.de)

It was touching pictures that Germany’s biathletes delivered at the end of the relay race behind the finish line. Her final runner Denise Herrmann was completely exhausted, Vanessa Voigt, Vanessa Hinz and Franziska Preuss provided the emotional first aid for the 33-year-old. The three skiers, who had all mastered their six kilometers plus two shooting bouts with flying colors, now knelt together in the artificial snow – all around Herrmann, who ultimately secured a set of bronze medals for her team behind the Olympic champions from Sweden and the Russian athletes.

For the successful biathlon division of the German Ski Association (DSV), it was the second medal in the ninth decision in Beijing, both delivered by the women. While the men with skis and rifles have not received anything before the final mass start on Friday, Denise Herrmann is already a two-time medal winner after her surprise gold in the individual at the beginning of the first week of the Olympics.

The moments before the finish of the former cross-country skier, who had geared her season planning to the highlight in China, were particularly close to her teammate Franziska Preuss. The 27-year-old immediately had tears in his eyes – in a wild mix of feelings of desperation overcome in time and huge relief at the climax of an extremely challenging season for her. “It’s very emotional for the whole team, including the team behind the team,” reported Preuss. In the overall World Cup of the previous year, she had finished third – and went into the Olympic winter as the greatest German hope for a medal. But after a promising start to the season, she slipped on a staircase in December, injured her foot and, additionally thrown back by a corona infection, was unable to start any more races until the departure for Beijing.

When she started on the course in Zhangjiakou, which was almost 1700 meters high, Preuss struggled with her standing position, and after finishing 30th in the sprint, she explained completely distraught: “I don’t know what else to do. I’m way too cerebral, the looseness is totally missing. It really annoys me – because I can’t be the biathlete that I am and want to be. There’s no point in continuing with that.” But Preuss continued. In the pursuit that followed, she improved by 15 places, regaining the self-confidence she had lost. Now she got her first medal in the sign of the five rings at her third Olympic participation.

For the first time since the bronze race in Vancouver in 2010, a German women’s quartet was able to celebrate an Olympic medal. The twelve-year dry spell is over – and starting skier Voigt, who laid the foundation for this success with two strong shooting streaks without a single spare, quoted ski jumper Markus Eisenbichler after her day’s work, who followed the relay race live on site: “Want this shitty medal we absolutely today.«

At her Olympic baptism of fire in the mixed relay eleven days earlier, Vanessa Voigt was also the first to get on the track, making a penalty loop in both the prone and standing positions – so that the mixed four of the DSV only finished fifth in the end. Three individual races later everything was different. “That was exactly what I dreamed of that night: handing over to number one. In this race I confirmed that I can really run in this position,” said the 24-year-old from Thuringia proudly, adding: “Two months ago, nobody would have thought that I would even be here. And now I have my medal – it couldn’t be any cooler.«

Voigt’s perfect performance at 15 degrees below freezing was solidly followed by Hinz, Preuss and Herrmann with two spares each. The 29-year-old Hinz lost 14 seconds to the top in her part in the last two kilometers – and when handing over to Preuss only hoped that her comrade-in-arms would be waiting for her at the beginning of the transition area. “The standing shooting was brutally hard. And then the final round as well,” she admitted later.

When the bronze work was finally completed, Hinz was able to run towards the completely exhausted Denise Herrmann and kneel in front of the German anchor. »Everyone did a really, really good job. That motivated me. We deserve third place,” Herrmann commented when she regained her strength. »We have sworn to get a medal. That was our big goal, we’re super happy,” said Kristian Mehringer at the sight of the jubilant quartet. Then the women’s national coach for the Olympic finals for biathletes next Saturday announced: “This good result today was important. We can now approach the mass start with confidence.«