The German women’s biathlon relay team won the bronze medal at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. Gold went to Sweden, silver to Russia.
Denise Herrmann lay exhausted in the snow, but the joy of the second German biathlon medal at the Winter Games in China quickly replaced the individual Olympic champion’s exhaustion. With bronze behind Sweden and the Russian team, the German women won an Olympic relay medal for the first time since 2010. Vanessa Voigt, Vanessa Hinz, Franziska Preuss and Herrmann managed with six spare rounds and were 37.4 seconds behind the new Olympic champions after 4 x 6 kilometers in Zhangjiakou. The big favorite Norway, on the other hand, went away empty-handed in fourth place.
After the unfortunate fourth place in the men’s relay on Tuesday, the German biathlon team has something to celebrate again. “As Markus Eisenbichler said so beautifully: We absolutely want the shit medal today,” said Voigt, the start runner, alluding to the German ski jumper after her race.
Vanessa Voigt lays the foundation as the starting runner
In the biting cold but clear blue skies, Voigt started prone like all the favorites flawlessly. The 24-year-old, who is known as a good shooter and who had an unfortunate Olympic debut in the mixed relay, hit all five targets immediately and stayed in the top group. Voigt even handed over to Vanessa Hinz as the leader, Sweden and Italy also belonged to the trio, which was a good ten seconds ahead of the field.
“That was exactly what I dreamed of that night,” said Voigt. “Just handed over on the one to show that I can do it perfectly on the first position. The race confirmed that I can do it.”
Hinz also managed to do without a spare in prone position, but the 29-year-old Bavarian had to reload twice in the last shot and, in addition to Dorothea Wierer from Italy, let the competition from Russia and Sweden go first. World champion and gold favorite Norway, on the other hand, fell far behind. Tiril Eckhoff was really shaking while shooting, had two penalties and was almost two minutes behind the leader. The three-time world champion Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold was missing after collapsing on Saturday, but was still there as a spectator and support for the team before the early journey home.
Closing runner Denise Herrmann is in third place
Hinz sent Preuss on the track in fourth place, 46 seconds after leaders Russia. Preuss, who was slowed down for a long time by a foot injury and a corona infection before the Olympics, was under pressure in prone because the leaders remained flawless – Preuss also managed that. The 27-year-old, who was considered the most promising German biathlete before the Winter Games, then needed three tries just like Hinz with the last shot while standing and missed the chance to catch up with the also blundering competition. The gap to fourth place was 37 seconds when Preuss handed over to Olympic champion Denise Herrmann. It led Sweden ahead of Italy and Russia.
Herrmann didn’t hit the last shot straight away either, so that Elvira Öberg was able to pull away for Sweden from the front. The Russian Uljana Nigmatullina and Federica Sanfilippo for Italy also stayed in front of the 33-year-old Saxon, behind them the medal candidates France and Norway did not come closer, but Herrmann passed the Italian. Standing, she missed the first shot, but Elvira Öberg was already on her way to gold. Nigmatullina also couldn’t be caught in the last two kilometers, so that Herrmann saved bronze for Vice World Champion Germany from Norway’s Olympic star Marte Olsbu Röiseland.
Source: Stern
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