Benedikt Doll was unable to take advantage of his good starting position at the Biathlon World Cup in Oberhof and fell far behind after a botched prone shooting. After his sprint success the day before, the 33-year-old finished in twelfth place in the pursuit on Saturday after a total of five penalties and a deficit of 1:28.9 minutes. "It doesn't have much to do with bad luck. It was just maximum stupidity. I'm pretty annoyed. It was technically badly done," Doll said on ARD.
The Norwegians decided the victory among themselves. With the first-time winner Endre Strömsheim (2 misses), Sturla Holm Laegreid (2), Johannes Dale-Skjevdal (1), Tarjei Bö (3) and Johannes Thingnes Bö (4), five of them finished in the top five.
In front of a home crowd, Johannes Kühn was the best German in eighth place. He made two mistakes at the shooting range. "It was good overall, but the others were simply better," said Kühn. Only Philipp Horn (3) and Roman Rees (2) improved from a German perspective in the hunting race, finishing in 13th and 14th place, while Justus Strelow (1) crossed the finish line in 16th place. Philipp Nawrath also had problems at the shooting range. He missed six times and dropped from eleventh place to 22nd.
Doll started the race together with Laegreid and the eventual winner, but then missed three targets in the first shooting. He also had to shoot two extra rounds in the second round. Only thanks to a flawless standing shooting did he work his way back to the front.
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