Six weeks until the World Championships for Biathletes in Sweden. And before the competition in Östersund (7 to 17 March), Laura Dahlmeier is getting in better shape. The double Olympic champion won the mass start in Antholz. Thus she celebrated the 20th World Cup victory of her career.
I imagined and wanted to be back in the lead, "said Dahlmeier, who had felt" really bad "on the first lap. That's why she wanted to finish the race prematurely, but then she went on.
"I really just wanted to do neat, fast training under competitive conditions," said Dahlmeier. This worked perfectly. The 25-year-old made only one mistake and came with 13.1 seconds ahead of the sprint winner Marketa Davidova to the finish, which had also made a mistake.
Dahlmeier was in first place for almost a year now for the first time. The seven-time World Champion won her last victory on 12 February 2018 with her second Olymia Gold (Pursuit) in Pyeongchang.
Hinz becomes third
The day before, Dahlmeier had already become second in the pursuit competition. She finished fourth in the sprint. Because of her health problems during preparation and over Christmas it is only the third world cup station for Dahlmeier this winter. In seven races, the German brought six top ten results, including one win and two second places.
For the German team it was after the mass start success of Franziska Preuß in Ruhpolding the second season win. Preuß had to fit ill in Antholz. With Vanessa Hinz for another German completed the podium (one mistake, residue: 16.4 seconds). Karolin Horchler made it into the top ten as eighth.
The race was frustrating for Franziska Hildebrand. She made a fall and also four mistakes. In the end, she was only 27th, Denise Herrmann also had to complete four penalties and finished in 13th place.