Enlarge image

Julia Simon won the world championship title in the sprint

Photo: Hendrik Schmidt / dpa

The German biathlon team failed to win the medal they had hoped for in the second race at the World Championships in Nové Město, Czech Republic. In the 7.5 kilometer sprint on Friday, Franziska Preuß was the best of the German quartet in sixth place. After one mistake, the 29-year-old was 1:05.3 minutes behind the victorious Frenchwoman Julia Simon, who was followed by her teammates Justine Braisaz-Bouchet (1 mistake/+4.9 seconds) and Lou Jeanmonnot (1/+40.8 seconds). ) referred to the further medal ranks. Another Frenchwoman, Sophie Chauveau, came fourth. It was the first quadruple success for the French ski hunters in the history of the World Cup.

The French team is not only causing a stir on the cross-country ski trails. The two front women Simon and Braisaz-Bouchet communicate primarily through lawyers. Braisaz-Bouchet accused the overall World Cup winner of the previous winter of misusing her credit card for orders and had therefore filed a lawsuit. Simon sees himself as a victim and filed a lawsuit against an unknown person for identity fraud. The case will go to trial. "My name was used without my knowledge," Simon told the newspaper Le Dauphine Libere in August. The Albertville police released Simon after a few hours, but the investigation is still ongoing.

The two of them don't want to talk about the dispute. Two days ago they won the mixed relay together, now they won gold and silver.

Preuß with stable performance

German women are a bit far away from that. But Preuss in particular showed improvement. In the mixed relay, Preuß made a mistake when shooting and missed out on a possible medal. On Friday she was stable and has a good chance of going into the pursuit on Sunday (2.30 p.m. / TV: ARD and Eurosport). »I'm extremely relieved. Of course, a World Cup is about medals, and this mistake was too many again. But the way things went in the mixed relay, I'm proud that I didn't let myself get dragged down. Now we can move on,” said the 29-year-old

Vanessa Voigt (1/+1:42.5 minutes), Sophia Schneider (2/+2:04.4) and Janina Hettich-Walz (3/2:14.8) did not make it into the top ten. Last year at the home World Cup in Oberhof, the retired Denise Herrmann-Wick won gold for the DSV women.

kjo/sid/dpa