Biathlon: Bronze for German Duo in Lenzerheide

It is one of the most ungrateful tasks in biathlon to have to run away from Johannes Thingnes Bö. The Norwegian is relentless on the final round. But Justus Strelow had no choice on Thursday afternoon in the Biathlon Arena in Lenzerheide: With 18.5 seconds ahead of Bö, the German left the shooting range in the single mixed relay, for him it was now necessary to defend silver. But the distance was meter by meter. Sports director Felix Bitterling watched from the edge of the route: “You already die two or three deaths on such a round,” he said.

That was true for the observers, but also for Strelow himself. “Painful” was to have to run in front of Bö, he said, on the last departure before the finish, the competitor then floated past the German. Nevertheless, it still worked with bronze for him and relay colleague Franziska Preuss, so it could also be cheered. “There are worse than losing against him in the last few meters,” said Strelow towards Bö. “We can be very satisfied,” said Preuss, who can now take four medals from five races from Switzerland.

With only four loaders, the German duo was one of the best teams of the day at the shooting range, only Poland and the Ukraine were able to keep up, but landed much further. The world champion in the non -Olympic discipline became France (seven aftert loaders), Norway affected 15 additional cartridges. Switzerland narrowly missed the first World Cup medal in fourth place.

The single mixed relay has only been held at World Championships for six years, and the only German medal has been achieved in Antholz in 2020, at that time Erik Lesser and Prussia conquered silver. “I think we are on the way with the single mixed to become little experts,” said Felix Bitterling. The basis for the success in Lenzerheide was eight convincing shooting deposits of the two Germans compared to the competition. Both Prussia and Strelow each had to fumble two additional cartridges into the rifle, but always had a view of the top. “The two did that fantastic,” said Bitterling.

And even if the run away was not enough for silver in the end, there was a comforting knowledge: Johannes Thingnes Bö can be beaten at least at the shooting range. He had to reload seven times.