After winning World Championship silver at the home title fights in Oberhof, the German biathletes want to make it onto the podium again in the last relay competition of the season.
In Östersund, Sweden, Janina Hettich-Walz, Hanna Kebinger, Vanessa Voigt and Denise Herrmann-Wick will start the penultimate World Cup on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. over the 4×6 kilometers.
Sophia Schneider is missing from the World Cup quartet, who was unable to play in the individual on Thursday due to illness. Hettich-Walz runs for them. The women had taken three podium places in the previous World Cups.
“We’re trying to take the momentum from the last races and of course from Oberhof. There’s still a bit at stake in the relay classification. We want to give everything again, everyone will give it their all again,” said Herrmann-Wick am Friday. In the World Cup relay ranking, Germany is third with 260 points, followed by Sweden (276) and France (270).
Roman Rees, Johannes Kühn, Philipp Nawrath and Östersund individual winner Benedikt Doll run at 4.30 p.m. over 4×7.5 kilometers. In the World Cup, the protégés of national coach Mark Kirchner made it into the top three in all four races, but they didn’t finish fifth at the World Cup. The Norwegians have already won the World Cup rankings, having won all four World Cup relays. The Germans (270 points) are battling France (245) for second place.