Lukas Greiderer / Martin Fritz won a gruff ÖSV duel for third place. The biathletes clearly missed the podium, speed skater Vanessa Herzog ended the European Championship with the season’s best.
Lukas Greiderer / Martin Fritz took third place in the Nordic Combined World Cup team sprint in Val di Fiemme on Sunday. Lukas Klapfer / Franz-Josef Rehrl finished fourth. Only the superior top favorites Jörgen Graabak / Jarl Magnus Riiber from Norway and the Germans Fabian Rießle / Vinzenz Geiger were better than the two ÖSV duos.
While Graabak / Riiber triumphed with a lead of over 40 seconds, the two Austrian couples fought for second place in cross-country skiing against Germany. It was only in the finish sprint that Fritz and Klapfer, who were a little handicapped on the back straight, were left behind.
Biathletes are still waiting for the podium
Even in the ninth season competition, the Austrian biathlon men did not make it onto the podium. Simon Eder finished eleventh in Sunday’s mass start from Oberhof with three shooting errors, Julian Eberhard finished 14th after five penalties. Felix Leitner did not get beyond 28th place with eight misses. As in the sprint, the victory went to Martin Fourcade.
The Frenchman secured his third success of the season in the absence of season dominator Johannes Thingnes Bö. The seven-time overall World Cup winner prevailed with two shooting errors ahead of Arnd Peiffer and Simon Desthieux, the German and his French compatriot had each missed three targets. With his 75th individual triumph, Fourcade von Bö, who takes a baby break in January, took the lead in the overall World Cup.
Katharina Innerhofer was again in the top ten when the Finn Kaisa Mäkäräinen won. The Salzburg rider finished in tenth place with seven penalties, just like in the sprint.
Herzog finishes EM with seventh place
Vanessa Herzog took seventh place at the European Speed Skating Championships in Heerenveen over 1000 m. In 1: 15.32 minutes, the 24-year-old was 0.84 seconds behind the medals in the penultimate pair. Gold went to the Dutch Jutta Leerdam in 1: 13.67. Herzog had won silver over 500 m.
“I tried everything, but in the end the strength was lacking in the last few meters,” noted Herzog. “The times were really impressive today, considering that I would have been European champion with my time in Kolomna today. Overall, it was a solid step forward in the thousands, I had a good feeling on the ice.”
(APA)
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