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Hochfilzen (dpa) - Biathlete Benedikt Doll addressed one of his construction sites bluntly on television in front of an audience of millions before the German men's relay jumped on the podium at the World Cup in Hochfilzen.
"I'm getting tired of having to talk it over to myself," the Black Forest man complained about his skis on ZDF.
“It felt a bit like assault.
The others, especially the Swedes and Norwegians, always have top material.
We're still a bit of a lottery at the moment, but we're working to make it better, ”said the ex-world champion (31).
Even without the Olympic champion Arnd Peiffer, who had gone home for personal reasons, the German men had run into third place at the end of the first week of the World Cup in Hochfilzen, Austria.
Erik Lesser, Roman Rees, Doll and Philipp Horn were 44.1 seconds behind Olympic champion Sweden after a total of seven spare rounds.
Kontiolahti winners Norway finished second despite a penalty.
«We can be very satisfied.
It was the expected tough fight, ”said head coach Mark Kirchner.
Overall, the German ski hunters got seven podium places before the last biathlon week of the year from Thursday, which is also taking place in Tyrol due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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The women's relay with Maren Hammerschmidt, Franziska Preuß, Janina Hettich and Denise Herrmann finished fourth behind world champions Norway, France and Italy the day before - 0.2 seconds were missing for the podium.
“It's always annoying when you're not on the podium, but overall we're happy with the performance,” said women's national coach Kristian Mehringer.
Twelve months ago, his team was still in twelfth place - it was the worst relay result ever for a German team.
In the hunting race on Saturday, Doll and Lesser had lost their good starting position from the sprint at the shooting range and deteriorated from eighth to eleven and from ten to 16.
Horn (20/3 place), Rees (28/2) and Johannes Kühn (32/4) did not do much better at the shooting range in the double victory of the French Quentin Fillon Maillet and Émilien Jacquelin who remained flawless.
Doll later knew exactly what to expect.
"I'm sure I'll get another one on the lid from Engelbert, from our shooting guru."
Engelbert Sklorz, the team's new shooting coach, has a lot to do.
“There's just something missing when shooting.
When the pressure is gone, I'll hit the targets again.
But of course, you have to be able to handle pressure, ”said 31-year-old Herrmann.
The ex-world champion had given the yellow jersey as a personal goal, but this time only finished 25th and 32nd in Tyrol. "This is not a crisis now, you shouldn't talk badly," said Olympic champion Laura Dahlmeier.
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After six of 26 races, Herrmann is already 119 points behind the new leader Röiseland (271) with 152 points.
Franziska Preuß (172) was the best German in sixth place.
After jumping on the podium with third place in the sprint on Friday, Preuss had also impressed as a chase eight in the Röiseland victory.
“In the World Cup you have to be happy about every top ten place.
But it's still annoying because I made two more mistakes in the end.
More would have been possible, "she said.
In the men's category, the Norwegian Johannes Thingnes Bö is at the top with 296 points.
The best German is Lesser (183) in tenth.
Despite his break, Peiffer (137) is in 15th place - by the way, the Olympic champion will be back at the annual finale.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201213-99-676867 / 3
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