Atmosphere is guaranteed: More than 200,000 fans are expected in the Vysocina Arena during the World Cup.
Photo: imago/Lubos Pavlicek
When Vanessa Voigt thinks back to her last visit to Nove Mesto, memories of the World Championships a year ago immediately come to mind. The 2023 biathlon title fights took place last February in her hometown of Thuringia – and were very disappointing for Voigt. On the final weekend she won silver in the relay in Oberhof, but the places 19, 23, 41 and 46 in the individual races were all the more frustrating for her. And it was a good thing that the Schmalkalden native was able to clarify something very fundamental for herself at the first World Cup after the home World Cup.
Two weeks after leaving Oberhof, Voigt came fifth in the sprint in Nove Mesto, then twelfth in the pursuit – and thanks to these results she was able to whisper a calming thought to herself. “After the messed up World Cup, I was able to show that biathlon really suits me,” says the 26-year-old – now that she has returned to the atmospheric biathlon stadium in Nove Mesto. This year’s title fights begin there this Wednesday with the mixed relay. And Voigt’s insight from last year applies to the entire German team before the first starting signal in the Vysocina Arena.
The results this winter so far have been significantly better than feared before the season. Among the women, Franziska Preuß was particularly convincing after the resignation of model Denise Herrmann-Wick. Because of recurring health problems, she ended the previous season prematurely, missed the World Championships in Oberhof – and in the meantime also had thoughts of ending her career.
These considerations have long since been dispelled. After two months in which she did not do any sport at all, Franziska Preuß slowly felt her way back into biathlon life in April – and is now going to the races in the Moravian forests as the best representative of the German Ski Association (DSV). “I am positively surprised by the season so far and happy with how things have gone so far,” emphasizes the 29-year-old. Although she missed three races due to illness, she is in eighth place in the overall World Cup standings.
Preuß was the only one in the global biathlon elite to achieve a single-digit result every time she competed. Not even Johannes Thingnes Bö, the Norwegian who was no longer quite as dominant this winter, was able to achieve this among the men. In addition to first place in the overall ranking, the 30-year-old has four individual victories so far this season. The German ski hunters won just as many, not necessarily to be expected: Benedikt Doll won twice, his Black Forest training colleague Roman Rees and Philipp Nawrath won once each.
Further podium finishes for the men by Justus Strelow and Johannes Kühn and for the women by Preuß and Voigt make the DSV officials confident for the World Cup. »We have a lot of plans – but that doesn’t mean that we want to win x number of medals. “We want to be at the forefront and attack in every competition,” emphasizes sports director Felix Bitterling.
This relaxed attitude without a fixed medal target is intended to give the freshly exhilarated German team additional security in the cauldron atmosphere of Nove Mesto. »The atmosphere there in the stadium is special. A real cauldron of spectators awaits you – the kind of thing you can only experience there,” says Nawrath. Most of the twelve World Cup decisions take place after dark. Much to the delight of Preuß, who says: “I’m looking forward to the floodlit races. There is always such a special energy in the stadium when it is dark all around.
In the days before the start of these World Championships, the Czech organizers were particularly worried about the warm temperatures, the rain and the strong wind, which swept a lot of the specially piled artificial snow off the route. Challenging circumstances for the competitions, for which a total of 200,000 spectators are expected – and where the shooting range also has its pitfalls. Rather: the way there. »It’s a long run. And when you walk past these crowds of spectators, you can start thinking prematurely,” reports Vanessa Voigt. The biathlete who, a year ago, imposed a clearly successful ban on brooding – and then gratefully realized that ski hunting suits her quite well.
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