In the morning Erik Lesser was still thinking about the barbecue and camping chair in the sunshine on the Oslofjord. After the last biathlon sprint of his career, the 33-year-old was angry about his mistake despite fifth place.

"Somewhere it pisses me off that he goes wrong.

I would have liked to have been content with the podium today," said the Thuringian on ZDF.

Had Lesser shot clean like the top guys, he would have made it onto the podium.

But in the end he was proud of the strong team result.

Because when the strong Norwegian Sturla Holm Laegreid won on Friday, ex-world champion Benedikt Doll in fourth place, followed by Lesser and Philipp Nawrath as well as Johannes Kühn in eighth place, made four Germans into the top ten, David Zobel in eleventh place just barely missed.

"Mega, we can be very satisfied as a team, that makes my farewell all the sweeter for me," said Lesser, who is retiring after the season.

At the legendary Holmenkollen in Oslo, the ski hunters had to contend with the soft snow this time at plus degrees.

That's why Denise Herrmann, who started 26th, was "only" seventh.

"The start number is crucial, every minute counts," said the individual Olympic champion about the fact that the biathletes with later start times had a disadvantage this time: "I'm quite lost in the snow." Winner Tirl Eckhoff from Norway started in ninth place, second-placed Austrian Lisa Theresa Hauser first and third-placed Marte Olsbu Röiseland from Norway third.

"We are on"

Doll also had a hard time on the soft track.

As he struggled on the final lap, Lesser pushed him a couple of times.

"I'll buy him one then.

Because if he hadn't pushed me, he would probably be in front of me now," said the 31-year-old, who was just 0.5 seconds ahead of Lesser and one second ahead of Nawrath.

"There were big differences on the track today," reported Nawrath.

Despite missing out on the podium, the Germans are promising in the pursuit on Saturday (12:50 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. live on ZDF and Eurosport).

"We're in," Nawrath said.

Herrmann, who, like Lesser, can rely on family support, also has a good chance of making the top three.

"I'm still in the mood for the last races," said Herrmann.

Franziska Hildebrand (34) in ninth and Janina Hettich (25) in twelfth delivered flawless best performances of the season.

Vanessa Voigt (24) was 14th after a penalty loop. “Mentally I'm not that fresh anymore.

Last week the pressure was off when I made it onto the podium,” said the 24-year-old, who finished second in the sprint a week ago in Otepää and claimed her first podium finish.

Franziska Preuss (28) was only 45 after four tickets. Vanessa Hinz (29) was missing because of a positive corona test.

Philipp Horn had a bad fall during training and had to go to the hospital.

He suffered a concussion but is back at the team hotel.