Elvira Oeberg wins pursuit race from start to finish
Number one in the sprint, number one in the pursuit: Elvira Oeberg completed the double at the BMW IBU Biathlon World Cup in Oberhof. In glorious weather, perfect conditions and in front of 19,000 enthusiastic spectators in the ARENA am Rennsteig, the Swede celebrated another superior victory in the second individual race in the Thuringian Forest.
Oeberg controlled the race from the start. After four focused shooting rounds and only one miss, she headed for an unchallenged victory on the final lap and visibly enjoyed the atmosphere (31:38.5 minutes). Behind her, Suvi Minkkinen confirmed her strong shape and defended her second place from the sprint with confidence. The Finn also made only one mistake at the shooting range (+16.6 seconds).
The battle for third place was exciting: Hanna Oeberg prevailed in a Swedish-French duel against Julia Simon. On the final lap, the older of the Swedish sisters left her competitor behind and completed the podium (+1:04.5 minutes, two penalty loops).
The DSV team put in a good team performance with fifth, eighth and twelfth places and had a chance of a podium finish right up to the end. Franziska Preuß repeated her fifth place from the sprint and was once again the best DSV athlete (+1:20.7 minutes, two penalty loops). ‘Two mistakes are still one too many. I'm glad I hit everything in the last shooting. I still felt pretty good in the final lap,’ said Preuß after the race.
Local hero Vanessa Voigt put in a strong performance, shooting four times without a miss on her home turf and working her way up from 27th to eighth place (+1:47.4 minutes) to loud cheers from the crowd. Julia Tannheimer also improved significantly despite three misses, moving up from 17th to 12th place (+2:09.6 minutes). She was the strongest German skier of the day and was the only DSV athlete to finish in the top 15 in this discipline, coming 8th.
Janina Hettich-Walz, who finished sixth in the sprint, was in contention for a podium place until the very end. Despite two penalty loops in the second shooting, she was within striking distance of the leading group going into the final shooting. However, three further misses threw her far back, and she ultimately finished in 17th place (+2:39.7 minutes, five penalty loops).
Selina Grotian showed great commitment in the race, but lost ground in particular in the prone shooting. Despite three misses, she worked her way up seven places to finish 23rd (+2:56.2 minutes). Anna Weidel finished a distant 43rd with three misses (+4:22.2 minutes).