Confident to victory: Oeberg wins the sprint
Perfect conditions, high-class sport, and a clear winner: the organizers' decision to prepone the women's sprint at the BMW IBU Biathlon World Cup in Oberhof to Thursday due to poor weather forecasts proved to be spot on. In front of enthusiastic spectators in the ARENA am Rennsteig, Elvira Oeberg prevailed with a perfect race. The Swede shot clean in both shooting rounds for the first time this World Cup season and also set the fastest time on the demanding course. The reward: a commanding victory with a clear lead over her pursuers. “I finally shot clean in the sprint,” said Oeberg happily at the finish line, who did not complain about the competition being brought forward despite hard interval training two days ago and little recovery time. “My skiing was very good, I'm very happy.”
Minkkinen and Simon complete the podium
Behind them, Suvi Minkkinen confirmed her good form with another strong performance. The Finn also shot clean to take second place (+21.1 seconds), celebrating her third podium finish of this season. Third place went to France's Julia Simon, who also shot flawlessly to complete the podium (+23.6 seconds).
From a German perspective, Franziska Preuss was particularly impressive, fighting for a podium place for a long time despite a miss on the shooting range and ultimately finished in a strong fifth place (+47.1 seconds). “Every step counts here, the course is not easy,” said Preuss after the race. The wind was not a problem, but perhaps the risk she took on the shooting range was a little too high. “Unfortunately, one mistake is one too much, but my form is clearly improving,” said last season's overall World Cup winner optimistically after recovering from COVID-19, also with a view to the Olympic Games starting in a few weeks.
Janina Hettich-Walz followed directly behind Preuss in sixth place. Despite arriving late and having to prepare for the race at short notice, the athlete from the Black Forest put in a strong performance. Solid shooting and the fourth-best running time laid the foundation for her best result of the season and her ticket to the flower ceremony (+49.5 seconds, one penalty lap). “I am very, very happy with today's race. The preparation was a bit bumpy, but I tried to make the best of it,” she said with relief.
Other German results
Julia Tannheimer finished in 17th place (+1:19.8 minutes, two penalty loops) after a decent performance, while Vanessa Voigt, despite a clean shooting, had to pay tribute to the difficult running course and finished in 27th place, 1:38.8 minutes behind the winner. Selina Grotian also collected World Cup points in 30th place (+1:45.2 minutes, two penalty loops) and Anna Weidel in 32nd place (+1:50.2 minutes, one penalty loop).
Jeanmonnot defends yellow bib
World Cup leader Lou Jeanmonnot had to be satisfied with a seventh place this time. A miss at the shooting range cost the Frenchwoman a better place (+54.9 seconds, one penalty lap). However, Jeanmonnot secured a promising position for the pursuit, as did DSV stars Preuss and Hettich-Walz.