Denise Herrmann gave the German biathletes their first podium place in the Olympic winter at the World Cup opener in Östersund, Sweden.

The 32-year-old made just one mistake in the individual over 15 kilometers on Saturday, in the end the Saxon was just 5.3 seconds short of second-placed Austrian Lisa Theresa Hauser (27), who also received a penalty minute.

World champion Marketa Davidova (24) won the first victory of the new season.

In the end, the flawless Czech had a lead of 1: 17.7 minutes on Hauser.

No restrictions

For the first time in front of fans, in Sweden there are no restrictions despite the corona pandemic, Anna Weidel (25) and Vanessa Voigt also waited with great results.

Weidel was the only one in the German team to hit all 20 targets and, as a strong ninth, missed the association's internal norm for Beijing by just 0.9 seconds.

But like Weidel, Voigt (24/1 error), who as the overall IBU Cup winner had a personal right to start, managed half the norm in twelfth.

Herrmann has already secured the Olympic standard.

Franziska Preuß (27), who also started with ambitions for a podium, missed four times and had to settle for 23rd place.

Vanessa Hinz (29/2 mistakes) finished 24th, Janina Hettich (25/3 mistakes) came in 36th.

Juliane Frühwirt (23/1 fault) landed on position 59.

The German ski jumpers have also made it to the podium in an individual competition for the first time since the beginning of the corona pandemic.

Mixed world champion Katharina Althaus took third place on Saturday in Nizhny Tagil, Russia, and only had to admit defeat to the two Slovenians Ema Klinec and Ursa Bogataj after jumps on 91 and 92 meters.

The day before, the 25-year-old old house was still in fifth place.

Pauline Heßler (11th), Selina Freitag (15th) and Anna Rupprecht (19th) also made it into the points.

A long lull in individual competitions ends for the jumping women.

There was no top three placement last winter.

The last podium position dates from January 2020, at that time Althaus took second place in Rasnov, Romania.

Strong impression in the monobob

World Cup third Laura Nolte confirmed her strong first impression in the monobob.

The Winterberger, who finished third at the start of last week, ended up as the best German driver in Innsbruck-Igls in second place, five hundredths of a second behind.

In the young discipline, Olympic medals will be awarded for the first time at the Winter Games in Beijing (February 4 to 20, 2022).

“I was totally satisfied with both rides today,” said Nolte, who was still sixth after the first run: “In the first run there was a little missing at the start and that's why I knew I would get off to a good start on the second Run further up can go. "

Victory on Saturday was secured by Elana Meyers Taylor (USA) after two flawless runs.

The German women are still waiting for their first victory in this discipline in the World Series.

Pyeongchang Olympic champion Mariama Jamanka (Oberhof / + 0.91 seconds) and Kim Kalicki (Wiesbaden / + 0.65) had big problems like on the opening weekend, which had also taken place in the ice channel in Innsbruck, and had to deal with the disappointing places 16 and twelve content.

In the previous year, the German female pilots had only booked three second and two third places in the first season of the mono world series, which is not part of the World Cup.

At the World Championships in Altenberg, Nolte also won bronze behind teammate Stephanie Schneider, who did not make the leap into the World Cup team this season.