After the Biathlon World Cup in Nove Mesto, the World Cup continues: Benedikt Doll and Roman Rees can still annoy the Bö brothers, and Vanessa Voigt and Franziska Preuß also have a lot to do.
Admittedly, in the overall men’s World Cup there is nothing left for the German athletes at the front. Six Norwegians lead this ranking, with Johannes Thignes Bö at the top of the list. After 14 of 21 races this season he leads with an impressive 806 points, behind him Johannes Dale-Skjevdal (714) and Tarjei Bö (708) are fighting for second place.
World Cup overall standings men arrow right World Cup calendar in biathlon arrow right
Benedikt Doll leads the German ensemble in eighth place overall (465), but there is one competition that he can even win before a possible end to his career: In the sprint classification, the 33-year-old is in second place overall with 269 points Only Tarjei Bö (288) is ranked. There are still two sprints to come this winter, at the final World Cup locations overseas – in Soldier Hollow (09.03.2024) and in Canmore (15.03.2024).
Roman Rees lying in wait
Annoying the other Bö brother is up to Roman Rees. In the individual rankings he has so far collected 121 points, which means he is currently in a “squall sandwich” between Johannes Thingnes (150) and Tarjei (90). Fourth and fifth in this table are Justus Strelow (86) and Johannes Kühn (84), so everything is still possible for them too, at least in the fight for third place – but there is only one chance left in the fight for the “little crystal ball”, only one single remains on the winter calendar.
This final individual race of the season is actually the next men’s event on the schedule when it takes place in late February and early March Oslo the World Cup races continue. From Holmenkollen we then go across the pond: from March 8th to 10th the women and men meet in the American one Soldier Hollowa week follows the World Cup finals in Canada Canmoreon March 17th two mass start races will form the finale.
Biathlon bosses want Doll to continue
It cannot be ruled out whether this will be the finale in two respects for Benedikt Doll; this week he wants to announce whether he will give up his skis and rifle and end his career. National coach Uros Velepec has something against it: “I would like him to continue. We have to talk to his wife, then maybe it will work,” joked the Slovenian after the Black Forest native’s redeeming World Cup bronze medal in the individual in Nove Mesto.
Sports director Felix Bitterling is also hoping for a postponement of the end of Doll’s career. He is in constant discussion with him on the subject and will do everything he can to persuade him. “But we will accept Benni’s every decision, we owe it to him,” said Bitterling.
Preuß and Voigt Eighth and Tenth
For the German women, after a World Cup with ups and downs, there isn’t much at stake in the overall World Cup. With 539 points, Franziska Preuß is in eighth place, very far behind leader Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold (719) from Norway. The second best German is Vanessa Voigt (475) in tenth place, but she can take a respectable fifth place in the World Cup mass start as a special motivation into the season finale.
World Cup overall standings women arrow right
The up-and-coming Janina Hettich-Walz (331) is 14th and has proven her competitiveness with World Championship silver. For all three, as well as for the positive World Cup surprise Selina Grotian, it’s now about top places in Oslo, Soldier Hollow and Canmore – if the “wax” department does better preparatory work than in Nove Mesto.
There’s still something going on in the individual rankings
The only overall ranking in which the athletes of the German Ski Association can still make a difference is the individual race: Here the Swiss Lena Häcki-Groß (117) leads by a narrow margin ahead of Lisa Vittozzi from Italy (115), followed directly behind by Voigt (110) and Preuß (109) within striking distance. But as with the men, the same applies to the women: there is only one more race left this winter. The decision about the “small crystal ball” will be made in Oslo on February 29th.