The golden glow of Denise Herrmann's individual triumph is getting weaker and weaker after the next moderate Olympic performance of the German biathletes.

In the pursuit race on Sunday, none of the quartet for the individual Olympic champion made it into the top ten.

In twelfth place, Vanessa Voigt with one miss and 2:48.4 minutes behind was the best finisher.

The German men even have to wait longer for the first medal.

In the pursuit over 12.5 kilometers, Roman Rees finished sixth as the best German.

However, the 28-year-old from the Black Forest was almost two minutes short of bronze.

The unusual snowfall in Zhangjiakou - precipitation in the dry region is extremely rare - presented the material managers with a tricky task.

Finally, fresh snow covered the cross-country ski trails that were prepared with artificial snow, and the temperatures of around twelve degrees below zero were also significantly lower than on the previous days.

"I wasn't at all competitive with the material," Denise Herrmann scolded unusually clearly on ARD.

Despite three penalties, the 33-year-old had moved up from 22nd to 17th place, although she had noticeably weak material under her feet.

"I felt good," said the Saxon: "But if everything doesn't really fit together, it will be difficult to make up time.

Today we were really, really far away from the music.”

In the men's event, France's Quentin Fillon Maillet won his second gold medal in Zhangjiakou after winning the individual event.

The 29-year-old overall World Cup leader, who also won silver in the sprint and mixed relay, relegated Tarjei Bö (Norway) and Eduard Latypow (ROC) to second and third place.

Norway's Marte Olsbu Röiseland took her third gold in the women's event after winning the mixed relay and sprint.

As in the sprint, the Swede Elvira Öberg secured silver, 1:36.5 minutes behind.

Bronze went to World Champion Tiril Eckhoff from Norway, 12.2 seconds behind.

On the final lap, Eckhoff overtook her compatriot Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, who was still third after the last shooting, but then only staggered on the last kilometer and made it to the finish line in 14th with her last strength.

The 25-year-old collapsed exhausted and had to be treated.

According to the team, she is now on the mend.

"She is conscious and receiving medical attention.

She's okay," said Tiril Eckhoff.

According to the NTB news agency, team doctor Lars Kolsrud also said that she was fine.

Tandrevold eat and relax and was conscious the whole time.

The team doctor told Norwegian radio that Tandrevold was very happy that Eckhoff had won the bronze medal.

So the medal stays at least in the team.

Franziska Preuß, who was sentenced to spectating for a long time before the Olympics, achieved her best result so far in 15th place, but was 2:58.7 minutes behind the winner despite only one shooting error.

Herrmann came in 17th after three mistakes, 3:20.7 minutes behind, Vanessa Hinz was 21st - although she only missed once in twenty attempts, the gap to Röiseland, who was also much better at running, was 3:34.1 minutes.

In the men's race, Johannes Kühn, 33rd in the sprint, finished twelfth despite four penalties.

Philipp Nawrath made seven penalty loops at the shooting range in strong gusts of wind and finished 19th on his 29th birthday. Benedikt Doll, who started the race with good prospects from eighth place, also missed seven targets and had to settle for 32nd place.

"I was kind of tired from the head," said Germany's actually best ski hunter.

Eight Germans in the mass start

After all, a total of eight German biathletes qualified for the last two individual races in China, for which only 30 participants are allowed.

In the men's mass start on Friday (10 a.m. CET in the FAZ live ticker for the Olympics, on ARD and on Eurosport), Doll, Rees, Nawrath and Kühn will be there.

One day later, Denise Herrmann, Franziska Preuss, Vanessa Voigt and Vanessa Hinz are allowed to compete for women (10:00 a.m.).

This emerges from the provisional start lists published on Sunday.