First race after the Olympics: Biathlete Fichtner surprisingly finished fifth in the World Cup

In the first race after the retirement of overall World Cup winner Franziska Preuß, Janina Hettich-Walz was on the podium until the last shooting. But with two penalty minutes she missed the third podium of her career; with 20 goals the 29-year-old would have been second. In the end we finished ninth. “It’s been haunting me all year, I can’t manage the second standing stage. It’s slowly becoming a matter of my head,” said Hettich-Walz.

Two sisters on the podium

The Swedish sisters Elvira and Hanna Öberg celebrated a double success. Elvira Öberg didn’t miss a shot and after 15 kilometers was 41.3 seconds ahead of Hanna, who received a penalty minute. The Slovakian Paulina Batovska Fialkova came third (1 error/+ 45 seconds).

Selina Grotian was 20th after three penalty minutes, Vanessa Voigt (3 errors) came in 25th, Julia Tannheimer missed four times and finished the race in 28th place after the fifth-best running time. Anna Weidel had to miss the race at short notice due to illness.

The Frenchwoman Lou Jeanmonnot secured the small crystal ball for the individual discipline ranking. The overall World Cup leader was lucky, however, because after a disappointing 35th place, she saved two points in the standings from the Swede Anna Magnusson, who finished the race in sixth place.

The men start the final trimester on Friday (5:10 p.m./ZDF and Eurosport) with the individual over 20 kilometers.