Tricolore on the podium: the Frenchmen celebrate a triple victory in the sprint in Oberhof
Bleu, Blanc, Rouge: after a phenomenal team performance in the sprint at the BMW IBU Biathlon Worldcup 2025 in Oberhof, the podium is shining completely in the French colours. With zero misses won Quentin Fillon Maillet over the race of ten kilometres with the third best skiing time ahead of his teammates Fabien Claude (+14,9 seconds/0 misses) and Emilien Jacquelin (+22,1 seconds/1 miss). It was Maillet's 17th World Cup victory in total and his second in Oberhof. ‘This victory means a lot to me because the last few years have been very difficult for me - especially on the track,’ said the two-times Olympic champion, who had been waiting since three years for a World Cup victory. The man in the yellow jersey, Johannes Thingnes Boe from Norway, missed three targets in total and had to settle for 13th place (+58.1 seconds) despite having the best skiing time.
DSV team lagging behind
Things went even worse for the DSV stars. Almost without exception they lost ground at the shooting range and had to do too many penalty loops. Justus Strelow finished as the best DSV athlete in 18th place (+1:12.9/1 miss): ‘I had a little sewing machine in the standing shooting and was actually glad that I had only one miss.’ Overall, however, he drew a positive balance for himself after an training break after New Year's Eve due to illness. ‘The conditions were very fast, the track was super hard. It was really fun,’ he said.
The best German in the World Cup, Philipp Nawrath, had to do like Boe three times extra meters and finished 27th (1:29.8). Danilo Riethmüller (1:36.2/3 misses) was, in his own words, impressed by the atmosphere and finished 31st on his home debut in Oberhof. ‘I approached the first lap a bit too defensively, and then there were the misses. That's then the result I ended up with. I can't be satisfied with that,’ said the 25-year-old, who nevertheless emphasised the excellent atmosphere in the ARENA am Rennsteig and on the course. ‘It was fun to run in front of such a backdrop. You can no longer hear yourself breathing and you are completely carried by the fans.’ Local heroes Philipp Horn and Simon Kaiser missed four times each and finished in 44th and 46th place.