Podest! Frauen trotzen Preuß-Ausfall

Podest! Frauen trotzen Preuß-Ausfall

In the final World Cup relay race of the season held in Nove Mesto, an inexperienced German quartet achieved a respectable third place, while France took home the victory ahead of Norway.

The German biathletes managed to clinch a podium finish despite the absence of Franziska Preuß, who had departed early after poor performances in the individual events. The team, comprising Julia Tannheimer (19), Selina Grotian (20), Johanna Puff (22), and Sophia Schneider (27), finished third with an average age of just 22 years.

They completed the relay without a single penalty round and had eight reloads, ending only 18 seconds behind the second position. France won the race (0 penalty rounds + 5 reloads), convincingly defeating Norway (0 + 11 / +26.1 seconds).

The German team, the least experienced in the field with only 151 World Cup races combined, showed good performance from the start and avoided major errors. Starting athlete Puff and Tannheimer only required one reload each, while Schneider needed to reload four times. Closing runner Selina Grotian maintained a flawless performance, securing the third podium in just their fifth relay race.

Julia Tannheimer expressed her satisfaction after the race, stating, "I'm really happy. Chasing down the gap did cost me some energy, but everything went well with the shooting," during an interview with ARD.

In contrast, the men's team struggled with particularly tough shooting conditions due to wind, resulting in a fourth-place finish.

Preuß reist vorzeitig ab

German number one Franziska Preuß had a disappointing weekend in the Czech Republic, finishing 15th and 13th respectively, leading her to leave for home early on Sunday morning to rest before the last two race stops. Her lead in the overall World Cup standings had dwindled from 92 points to just 36 points over French competitor Lou Jeanmonnot.

The season finale will take place at Pokljuka and Holmenkollen in Oslo, with both individual races and mixed categories remaining. Preuß will return to the competition on Thursday; the men will follow on Friday. In Slovenia (March 13-16) and at the conclusion of the World Cup season in Norway (March 21-23), five individual events and one in Mixed and Single-Mixed each are slated.