Biathlon final: Nawrath past the podium – Perrot takes the overall World Cup

Biathlete Philipp Nawrath missed a podium finish at the World Cup final on Holmenkollen and thus lost his minimal chance of winning the small crystal ball in the sprint. Despite shooting flawlessly, the 33-year-old didn’t get past eighth place in the 10 km. After third place the previous week, this time he was 31.7 seconds short of the podium. To triumph in the Sprint World Cup, the Nesselwanger would have had to finish at least third and hope for mistakes from the competition.

Instead, winner Sturla Holm Lägreid took home the small crystal ball. Meanwhile, the Frenchman Eric Perrot already grabbed the main prize with the big crystal ball two races before the end of the winter. After finishing third on the day in the overall World Cup, he can no longer be caught. The Norwegian Lägreid won despite one penalty ahead of the French Emilien Jacquelin (1 penalty/+3.9 seconds) and Perrot (1/+4.6). In the women’s category, the ball for the overall winner also goes to France. Lou Jeanmonnot, who lost the overall victory a year ago in a heart-stopping final against Franziska Preuß, had already made her triumph clear on Thursday.

“The top athletes were clearly stronger today, I have to acknowledge that,” said Nawrath on ZDF. He needs a strong comeback to chase the race towards the podium. The next best Germans were Philipp Horn (2/+1:06.2 minutes) and Justus Strelow (1/+1:07.9) in twelfth and 13th place. World Cup debutant Franz Schaser (0/+1:40.8) also showed an appealing performance among the top 30, Leonhard Pfund (1/+2:40.5) learned his lessons on the deep cross-country ski run and remained without any points.

The German team is still waiting for its first success of the season before the final weekend, and for the first time in history there is a risk of a winter without a World Cup victory. Four chances remain. The pursuits are scheduled for Saturday (1:45 p.m. and 4:15 p.m.), and the starting position for the women is also unfavorable with Vanessa Voigt as the first starter in 16th place. Finally, the mass starts traditionally take place on Sunday (1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m./all ZDF and Eurosport).