Enlarge image
Benedikt Doll: “I’m very happy about that”
Photo: Martin Divisek / EPA
Biathlete Benedikt Doll reached the podium in the final season of his career.
In the US Soldier Hollow, the German quartet with Doll, Justus Strelow, Johannes Kühn and Philipp Nawrath took third place after eight spare rounds.
It was the fifth podium of the winter for the German squad, having only finished fourth at the World Championships in Nove Mesto.
Victory once again went to the dominant Norwegians - despite a major false start from Sturla Holm Lägreid, who incurred three penalties in the standing stage.
But the brothers Tarjei and Johannes Thingnes Bø as well as Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen secured their fifth success in the fifth World Cup race; they too had faltered with second place at the World Cup.
Italy secured second place in Soldier Hollow in the final sprint ahead of the German team.
Premiere for Doll in the last relay race
Doll, who will end his career after the season, once again wrote a new chapter in his biathlon history.
For the first time in his career, the 33-year-old was left without a spare in the relay.
“I’m very happy about that,” said Doll on the ARD microphone, although he “didn’t feel good at all” on the cross-country ski trail.
From 11 p.m. the women will start the World Cup in the US state of Utah with their 7.5 kilometer sprint.
The biathletes' relay (8.25 p.m.) and the men's sprint race (11 p.m./all ARD and Eurosport) follow on Saturday, before the respective pursuits are on the program on Sunday.
The season finale will take place in Canmore, Canada, from March 14th to 17th.
At the end of February, Doll announced that he wanted to end his career after the season: "I invested everything again, gave my best for myself and the team to get the most out of this season and at the World Championships in Nove Mesto," said Doll .
He now notices “that I now want to put my energy into new projects and spend more time with my family.
I look back on an eventful time that I would never want to miss.«
eru/sid