Biathlon World Cup: Grotian and Preuß on the podium in the Antholz sprint

After her successful day at work, Selina Grotian was looking forward to pumpkin gnocchi and sweet potato curry for dinner. But before that, she celebrated a great start to the World Cup dress rehearsal together with Franziska Preuß on the podium and thousands of biathlon fans in the South Tyrol Arena. “Let’s have a nice massage and then we’ll have a cozy evening,” the 20-year-old told dpa after taking second place in the Antholz sprint, in which she and Preuß finished third for the fourth German double podium of the season.

The two had to admit defeat despite Frenchwoman Lou Jeanmonnot’s flawless shooting. But the duo underlined that they will be a force to be reckoned with at the season’s climax in Switzerland in three weeks. Preuß, in particular, underlined her role as the absolute favorite on the 2026 Olympics with her ninth podium finish of the winter.

“My goal was to achieve an individual podium here because that has never worked before. Goal accomplished, I’m very satisfied,” said Preuß. The 30-year-old lost out by 16.7 seconds in the private duel against her French rival, who also had no penalty. But just like Grotian, she can turn the tables in the pursuit on Saturday. “We should move forward,” announced Preuss.

At most, she took note of the fact that Jeanmonnot reduced the overall World Cup total to 117 points with her fifth win of the season. “It’s still a while before the overall World Cup is decided. I’m happy about every podium.” The Frenchwoman has great respect for her competitor: “Franzi is so strong, so stable. It’s going to be a nice fight.”

First race in Antholz, first podium

After the 7.5 kilometers at her Antholz premiere, Grotian was only 7.2 seconds behind the winner. The basis for the second podium finish of the season was that the 20-year-old cleared all ten targets after what felt like an eternity in the sprint. “I couldn’t be happier about that. The route suits me very much,” said the Bavarian.

She was also top on the cross-country ski trail as fourth fastest, like Preuß (7th), thanks to the “amazing” material. She gave her all until the end on the 1,600 meter high routes, which are not suitable for every athlete due to their altitude. “I was almost dizzy from the effort. I was really exhausted on the finish line,” reported Grotian. She’s not thinking about the hunting race yet: “I’ll let it come to me.”

Double Olympic champion and ZDF expert Laura Dahlmeier praised Grotian, who was born in Garmisch-Partenkirchen like her: “She showed a tactically clever race division. That impressed me at her young age.” Women’s coach Kristian Mehringer was also satisfied, albeit his Top athletes probably “started off a bit too fast. We are super satisfied and the shooting performance was top”.

In the stadium, which was converted for the Olympics next year, Sophia Schneider came 28th, Stefanie Scherer also made it into the hunt race in 54th place.

The core team should be increased

The German team is decimated after the failures of Vanessa Voigt and Julia Tannheimer. You are missing due to illness and are hoping for a quick recovery with a view to the World Cup from February 12th to 23rd in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

Someone from the IBU team should come to Antholz for the relay on Sunday. As a precautionary measure, as sports director Felix Bitterling announced. “We are very happy that we managed to survive with the core crew,” he said. But in view of the strain and in order not to jeopardize the World Cup, a ski hunter from Ridnaun will be brought in if one of the quartet fails.