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Biathlete Benedikt Doll
Photo:
Martin Divisek / EPA
The German biathletes fluctuated between anger and perplexity after their weak World Cup sprint in Nove Mesto. »The running time is by far the worst thing I have offered this winter. That really pisses me off," complained Philipp Horn: "You can tell every meter how much time you're losing." He actually "felt good" on the route," emphasized Johannes Kühn: "But when I look at the list of results “Look, I didn’t have any orders.”
Over the ten kilometers, the German quartet was 1:16 to 1:42 minutes behind the fastest runners - far from the level of the previous season. »We lost an enormous amount of time from interim to interim. There's nothing to mess around with," complained sports director Felix Bitterling: "We weren't that good in terms of skiing technology. The analyzes are ongoing.” We need to “work on it at full speed – on the one hand for Sunday, but especially for the second week.”
After the fluorine ban, waxing is “a dance on a razor blade every week and a blade like that is narrow. “You can very quickly fall down in any direction,” continued Bitterling: “There’s nothing to complain about, but we have to work through it. We can do better." For the pursuer on Sunday (5:05 p.m./ARD and Eurosport), "the medals are no longer within reach," said Benedikt Doll, who was best placed in 13th place.
The German chief technician had already spoken of a "special challenge" before the men's sprint given the significantly plus temperatures. The conditions are “pretty extreme,” said Sebastian Hopf in a media round: “In addition to these already very rare wet conditions, there is also dirt and no frost overnight. That’s quite challenging for us.” “Durability” in particular is a problem.
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