On the wave of success: Biathlete Preuß celebrates her next victory – Voigt comes third

Franziska Preuß is simply unstoppable at the moment. Although she is slightly injured, the 30-year-old won the pursuit at the Biathlon World Cup in Le Grand-Bornand and extended her lead in the overall World Cup with her second success of the season. The German top result was crowned by Vanessa Voigt, who was also not completely fit, in third place, while the French Julia Simon came second.

Preuß, who lost out to Justine Braisaz-Bouchet from France by 1.4 seconds in the sprint on Friday and then refrained from giving interviews as a precautionary measure, only missed once. Voigt made no mistakes before they both hugged each other with joy at the finish. On Friday they both complained of a slight sore throat. The running times showed that both of them were not in top shape, where Preuß was only 14th and Voigt 20th.

Advent calendar as a good omen

For Preuß it was the fifth podium finish of the winter and for Voigt the second. “I went straight to bed yesterday. I’m very satisfied, it could have gone completely differently,” said Preuß, who appeared for the interview again wearing a mouth and nose mask, on ARD after the “mega cool race” .

Voigt was also more than satisfied. “I’m very proud of it. I really ran out of grain, especially on the track. I know for a fact that I have to rock it at the shooting range because I can’t keep up on the track,” said Voigt. She had scratched off five euros in her Advent calendar before the race – just like the previous week when she came second ahead of Preuß in the hunting race in Hochfilzen.

Grotian loses skis and still fights

Meanwhile, Selina Grotian was very unlucky: On a descent in the first few laps she lost her right ski and the binding apparently broke off the plate. She was given a replacement ski, but lost a lot of time. In the end she crossed the finish line in 14th place, Anna Weidel finished in 21st position.

19-year-old Julia Tannheimer decided not to take part for health reasons. She didn’t feel well in the sprint on Friday, where she only came 53rd. It is still unclear whether she will compete in the final mass start on Sunday (2.45 p.m./ARD and Eurosport).