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Pokljuka (dpa) - Denise Herrmann was on the medal course until the last shooting, then she shot herself out of the race with two mistakes: Even the German biathletes have not been able to prevent the worst World Cup start since 2013.

In the third win of the Norwegian Tiril Eckhoff, Herrmann was eighth in the pursuit at the World Championships in Pokljuka.

The best German on Sunday was Franziska Preuss in fifth, directly followed by Vanessa Hinz, who was the only one in the DSV team to get through the shooting range without a mistake.

This means that the German men's and women's team is without a medal for the first time in eight years after the first World Cup weekend.

«I was so close and had it in my own hands, that annoys me extremely.

I've lost my nerve a bit, "said Herrmann (32), who also didn't feel as fit on the trail and couldn't play her running strength:" I was muscularly knocked out and couldn't act as I did on the track wanted."

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After just missing the bronze medal in the sprint, Herrmann entered the race with a lot of motivation in fourth place.

Because in the pursuit she had become world champion in 2019 and had won World Cup silver in the preseason.

It looked good until the final shooting, but in the end her plan didn't work out, with a total of three penalties.

Franziska Preuss also had a good chance of her second individual World Cup medal.

After two faultless prone inserts, she was fourth just as close to the medal ranks as Herrmann (1 fault) right behind her.

But in the standing position, the 26-year-old Preuss conceded two penalties and fell back - while Herrmann, who only shot twice in individual races without mistakes, moved up to third without a miss.

At least in terms of running, Preuss was absolutely top as the fifth fastest.

The best performance was shown by Vanessa Hinz, who traveled to Pokljuka without a World Cup: after her twelfth place in the sprint, she delivered her best result of the season and was only one of four female ski hunters who remained flawless.

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After the rest day on Monday, the difficult individual over 15 kilometers continues on Tuesday (12.05 / ZDF and Eurosport).

Hinz had won silver last year.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210214-99-438573 / 4

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