Germany secures podium place with Finnish victory in the sunshine
Sunshine and four degrees below zero, the 16,000 spectators in the boiling pot of the ARENA am Rennsteig rooted for the athletes in best weather. The German team is hoping for a podium to round off the Oberhof home World Cup on a high note. Following the cancellation of local hero Vanessa Voigt due to illness, Selina Grotian was standing ready alongside Justus Strelow. It was no easy task, as they were amongst others up against the French team with the two sprint winners, Paula Botet and Quentin Fillon Maillet.
On the short lap of the single-mixed relay, good shooting, Strelow's strength, is even more important than in other competitions. He proved his strength at the shooting range right from the start. When the men came to the first prone position, Strelow was the first athlete to start and finish his flawless shooting. He took the lead on the track, followed by Simon Eder for Austria and Jakov Fak for Slovenia. The Norwegians, who were among the favourites, started with two penalty loops and were therefore falling behind.
Strelow also delivered an impeccable rapid-fire performance in the first standing shooting, to which he, Eder and Fak arrived together, and handed over in the lead to Selina Grotian. While Fak followed him without any misses and handed over to Lena Repinc, France moved up to third place thanks to a miss by Simon Eder. Austria was the next nation to hand over to Lisa Theresa Hauser, followed by Finland with Suvi Minkkinen. They all handed over directly after the shooting to the women, who left the stadium at speeds of up to 75 km/h downhill.
Grotian took a cautious approach to the race on the track and arrived at her first shooting together with Botet, Repinc and Hauser, closely followed by Minkkinen. Botet was the first to emerge from this with a flawless shooting, while Grotian made one miss. Over the course of the next laps, the nations France, Finland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Switzerland (with Baserga and Hartweg) changed positions within the first six. Co-favourites such as Norway and Sweden fell further behind during the race and had nothing to do with the decision until the end.
In the first standing shooting of the women, the first five teams all missed some targets. Selina Grotian needed all three spare rounds, but was able to avoid the penalty loop and handed back to Strelow in fifth place. Meanwhile, Finland was leading at half-time, now again with Tero Seppälä on the track.
The tension was rising. While he made a mistake in the prone shooting, Strelow impressed in his second standing shooting with another five fast, reliable hits and again handed over in the lead, followed by France and Finland. The leading duo of Grotian and Botet made mistakes in the penultimate shooting, with Grotian again narrowly avoiding the penalty loop with three quick spare rounds. Minkkinen took advantage of the moment and was the first to leave the stadium, closely followed by Botet and Grotian. The three of them arrived almost at the same time for the final shooting and the outcome was still wide open. Minkkinen and Botet did not show any weakness and both shot flawlessly, while Grotian again needed her three spare rounds and hit all targets.
The Frenchwoman went into the chase three seconds behind Minkkinen. However, the Finn did not relinquish the lead and even extended it slightly, crossing the finish line in first place and jubilating. Seppälä jumped over the barrier in the finish area to congratulate his teammate as quickly as possible. Behind her, an exhausted Paula Botet crossed the finish line in second place, another 19 seconds later secured Grotian the hoped-for podium place. Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia followed in the ranks four to six.
It was not the first joint single-mixed relay with Strelow/Grotian. The pair already competed together in this event last winter in Oslo, where they clearly missed the podium with two penalties. They knew how to avoid it this time: ‘I just thought to myself, I don't want to go into the penalty loop, not at all,’ Grotian explained later. ‘I have to say Justus did an awesome job, it was unbelievable to watch him shoot those things, I can take a leaf out of his book,’ she praised her partner. The magic shooter himself was visibly pleased with his own performance and the overall atmosphere: ‘Today was a lot of fun, especially the standing shooting, I started to take a deep breath early on and focus on shooting and that finally worked out the way I imagined it. And yeah, it was just a great day, in front of this crowd, with these fans.’
The biggest winners of the race, however, remains the Finnish team: with their victory, Seppälä and Minkkinen not only surprised the Oberhof crowd, but also made history. This is the first time a Finnish relay team has won a World Cup race.