German Mixed Relay Surprises with Gold

At the Junior Biathlon World Championships, the German mixed relay team surprisingly won gold. In Östersund, Sweden, they crossed the finish line ahead of France, who took silver (+16.9 seconds), and Austria, who finished with bronze (+18.5 seconds). The favored Norwegians came in fourth (+1 minute). "We told ourselves: today it is possible here, we cannot afford any mistakes," said anchor runner Linus Kesper.

Alma Siegismund and Lotta de Buhr ensured that the German team stayed close to the leaders halfway through the race. During the fifth of eight shooting rounds, Fabian Kaskel took the lead, as France made too many mistakes. Kaskel had previously achieved the best German result in the individual 15-kilometer race, finishing seventh.

Kesper started with a 21-second lead over Austria and France. During the prone shooting, he only needed to reload once, while his pursuers also struggled.

In the final standing shoot, Kesper maintained a high pace, only missing one shot and correctly completing his first reload. "I got really anxious after the miss shot, but I focused on my coach’s advice: ‘The first reload must be accurate.' It worked out well, and I secured the lead before the finish."

The other competitors took significantly longer during the final shooting, allowing the German victory to remain unchallenged. The Junior Championships conclude on Wednesday, March 5, with the junior women's and men's relays as the final events. The next live stream will show the junior women's sprint over 7.5 km and the junior men's sprint over 10 km, which can be viewed on sportschau.de.