Biathlon in Ruhpolding: Denise Herrmann-Wick runs great and shoots miserably

Biathlon today without power outages
Hermann-Wicke runs great and shoots miserably

01/13/2023 09:52 AM

After a blackout in the men’s race, the grid held up for the women this time. Olympic biathlon champion Denise Hermann-Wick gives a better shot at the shooting range, while Vanessa Voigt sees an upward trend. The victory at Ruhpolding belongs to the Italian.

After the last missed pit stop, Denise Hermann-Wicke briefly battled herself before letting it all out on herself again on the final lap. But three penalty minutes total was too much for the 34-year-old at the Biathlon World Cup at home in Ruhpolding. Eleven months into her golden run at the Olympic Games in Beijing, she could only manage 15th place, despite best times.

10,000 spectators cheered her on, including world champion Magdalena Neuner and her “many neighbors”. But after 15 kilometers she was 2:43.8 minutes behind winner Lisa Fituzzi of Italy. After all, she was once again a measure of all things track, as the former cross-country skier held a combined 23.7-second lead over Julia Simon, the overall World Cup leader.

Four weeks before the World Championships in Oberhof, the third place overall in the World Cup was decided on the schedule. Supported by the ranks in her adopted country, Hermann-Wicke said, “I think my form is a good foundation for the World Cup. Now it’s really important to stay healthy.” You can do as much pressure as possible. it’s huge “.

With three penalty minutes you hardly get anything. Especially since everyone else in the top 15 clean shots or had a one-minute maximum penalty. Hermann Wieck also performed well on the shooting range. She said, “It was my last disc twice. I already knew I was going to have to pay for it soon,” which she treats with good humor. Hermann-Wicke went on to explain, “You have to keep the rhythm and the looseness, I didn’t quite succeed at that. You want to do it very precisely and then lose your rhythm, and sometimes you land a shot wrong.”

Time is running out for Francesca Bruce

The best German was the recently disappointing Vanessa Voigt in 11th place. “But it was easier for me here on the track than last time in Pokljuka. It makes me positive,” said the 25-year-old, who has not yet reached the world level, especially when it comes to shooting speed. “Especially on the shooting range, I’m very slow again acting the first three times. Then I thought to myself, I’m going to do it like it’s in training. And you can see it works.”

Then she wanted to do better on Saturday in the relay: “I’m in good spirits that a lot is possible, we definitely want to attack the podium again.” The other Germans did not make it into the top 20: Janina Hettich-Walls 26th, Sofia Schneider 33rd, Julian Froehwert 35th and Anna Weidel 37th.

The day after the men’s singles, where the power went out several times, things went smoothly this time. The problems arose on Wednesday due to a technical fault in the power grid and a failure of the emergency system. As a result of the malfunctions, which, among other things, resulted in television pictures failing several times during the live broadcast and all screens at Chiemgau Arena remaining black, the systems were thoroughly checked. She added that one does not assume that there will be similar incidents again. In order to secure this, another backup unit independent of the power grid of the backup system was commissioned.

Former world champion Franziska Prius, who has been in poor health, will not be present at her home races – as has also been the case recently in Pokluka – but still hopes to run in the world championships in Oberhof from February 8. But she wanted to run at least one more race before the World Cup, according to the German Ski Federation. The last chance to do so will be in Antholz, Italy, next week. The men’s relay continues in Ruhpolding on Friday (2:25pm / ARD and Eurosport).