Sprint in Kontiolahti: Biathlete Preuß missed the podium by a tenth of a second

Biathlete Franziska Preuß missed a tenth of a second in the sprint to achieve a podium place in Kontiolahti, Finland. Her only penalty put the 30-year-old behind. Marketa Davidova secured victory in Preuß’ fourth place, hitting all ten targets. After 7.5 kilometers, the Czech woman had a lead of 8.8 seconds over the Swede Elvira Öberg (2 shooting errors) and 11.9 seconds over the local hero Suvi Minkkinen (0).

“Sure, the placement is good. But I’m annoyed about one mistake while standing. I really wanted to shoot zero and then it just annoys you,” Preuß told ARD.

Julia Tannheimer made people sit up and take notice with the best individual result of her World Cup career. She finished in sixth place without any shooting errors and said: “I couldn’t have done much better. I think I shot a little slow while lying down. But the zero is there and that was the most important thing for me today.”

After a flawless first shooting session, Vanessa Voigt was annoyed about two mistakes and ended up in 37th place. “It’s just bad, it didn’t have to be,” she said. “I allowed myself to be too tempted to clear the targets particularly quickly and quickly. I didn’t succeed.”

Julia Kink also missed twice in 46th place. Selina Grotian, who had to do four extra laps, had even bigger problems. Thanks to a good running time, she ended up in 48th place.

Johanna Puff did not start. “Unfortunately, Johanna developed a severe sore throat during the night,” said team doctor Dr. Jan Wüstenfeld said before the race about the 22-year-old’s failure.