The German biathletes have missed a medal at the end of the World Cup in Östersund in adverse conditions. In the mass start over 15 kilometers single World Champion Arnd Peiffer ran to sixth place - he had to turn four penalties in dense snowfall and violent gusts. Gold went to Italian Dominik Windisch (three penalties) ahead of Frenchman Antonin Guigonnat (3 / + 22.8 seconds) and Austrian Julian Eberhard (4 / + 23.3 seconds).
Thus, the Biathlon World Cup ended with an Italian double victory: First, the Italian Dorothea Wierer had won the women in the mass start, then Windisch moved to - for the 29-year-old, it is the first World Cup gold in his career.
Bitter ran the race for the Norwegian superstar Johannes Thingnes Bø, who made a total of seven misses, five of them in the last shooting. He was 13th Thus, the 25-year-old missed the historic opportunity to win as the second in biathlon after Laura Dahlmeier at a World Cup five gold medals and six medals in total.
Fourcade remains without World Cup medal
"It was a strange race, I never saw so many mistakes and the penalty loop was pretty full," said Peiffer on ZDF after a "not so easy race". "I would have liked to score more, but sixth place is okay," said Peiffer.
The seven-time overall World Cup winner Martin Fourcade was only 24th and thus brought for the first time in ten years at a major event, no medal.
Defending champion Simon Schempp was not due to form weakness in Östersund at the start. Schempp had brought in the 2018 Olympic Games silver in the mass start. In the women's mass start Denise Herrmann had previously won bronze.
You can read the race here in minutes protocol.