Biathlete Philipp Horn at the World Cup in Hochfilzen: Extra power thanks to the wheelbarrow

SPushing a cart was never one of the classic training methods, but if biathlete Philipp Horn did something different during summer training, it was this: “I put in a few extra shifts at home on the construction site,” reports the 31-year-old. Horn alludes to his private project in Oberhof, where he and his wife are converting an old villa into a sports hotel. “I drove a wheelbarrow a lot,” says Horn. “That might give you the extra power now.”

If you like, German biathlon is currently a bigger construction site than the architects would like. Things are crunching in the ski hunter team, too few targets have fallen in the first few weeks of this Olympic winter. And if it weren’t for Philipp Horn, the statisticians would certainly have found some kind of historical negative balance. But then came Horn, the master builder from Thuringia.

In Hochfilzen, where the world’s best biathletes have been competing since Friday, Horn, at an advanced professional age, made it onto the top three podium for the first time. It was the first podium for the German biathletes before the women followed up with third place in the relay on Saturday. Podium places are one of the most important currencies as the Winter Olympics get closer in February. “There was a bit of pressure on the team,” said Horn. Accordingly, he finds this third place to be “incredibly cool”.

In the sprint race on Friday, Horn cleared all ten targets and was only beaten on the cross-country ski trail by the Italian Tommaso Giacomel and Eric Perrot from France. In the pursuit, the two fought for victory again, this time with the Frenchman coming out on top, hitting all 20 shots on target. Horn missed a target while standing and this time had to let the Norwegian Johan-Olav Botn pass. But he felt that he had once again “mastered” the challenges at the shooting range in the very noisy stadium. “I stuck to myself.”

Horn often spiced up his runs with a pinch of too much risk at the shooting range

Horn was considered a great talent when he was younger. In 2020 at the World Championships in Antholz, the then 26-year-old took bronze in the relay and came eighth in the sprint. But in the shadow of the German biathlon greats Erik Lesser, Benedikt Doll and Arnd Peiffer, things became increasingly quiet around Horn. He missed the nomination for the World Cup the following year, lost his place at the Olympics and was no longer seen, neither at the 2022 Olympic Games nor at the 2023 World Cup in Oberhof; his home World Cup took place without him. And while Denise Herrmann-Wick shone in Oberhof, Horn had to fight her way through the IBU Cup, the second division of biathlon, if you will. And that’s what Horn did – until his resurgence.

In the last two winters, Horn established himself among the top 30 in the World Cup. On the cross-country ski trail he was already one of the fastest in an international comparison. But Horn often spiced up his runs with a pinch of too much risk at the shooting range before he got shooting technique tips from Erik Lesser and hired a sports psychologist. “I feel like I’ve become calmer at the shooting range,” says Horn. He “used to get frustrated or hectic very quickly, maybe it’s because of experience and age that I’m a little more relaxed now.”

Horn joins a group of German athletes who can be described as late bloomers. Mention should be made of the ski jumper Pius Paschke, who won his first World Cup at the age of 33. The ski racer Lena Dürr also had to pass the age of 30 before she established herself among the world’s best. Similar to Horn, about whom his teammate Philipp Nawrath says: “It was clear all summer that he also performed very well on the scooters.” Horn has always struggled with the fact that he “didn’t quite bring his summer form into the winter, but this year it seems to be working really well,” says Nawrath. “He is currently the measure of all things on the cross-country ski trail in our team.”

Six years later, the Olympic Games took place in Antholz, where Philipp Horn once achieved his first major success. There is much to suggest that he will hunt for medals there for the German team. Only then will the biathlete, as a master builder, be able to devote more time to his own construction site in Oberhof.