Swiss biathletes Niklas Hartweg and Joscha Burkhalter are strong in the individual races at the World Cup in Ruhpolding, but just miss out on the podium in fourth and tenth place.
15.01.2025, 15:50
15.01.2025, 15:56
SDA
When Niklas Hartweg crossed the finish line after 20 km with bib number 18, there were two Swiss crosses at the top of the results table. The man from Schwyz was leading ahead of his compatriot Joscha Burkhalter and could therefore quietly hope for a podium finish.
In the end, one shooting error and the associated 24-second penalty in the second prone shooting meant that it was not enough for the third World Cup podium of his career. Burkhalter from the Bernese Oberland also made a mistake early on in the first standing stage. Nevertheless, he equaled his best result in tenth place. His only previous top ten finish had also come in the sprint in Ruhpolding three years ago.
Hartweg thus impressively demonstrated his steadily improving form after a complicated summer and a season that has so far also been characterized by illness-related problems. He also performed excellently on the run and would have taken 2nd place had it not been for the one mistake.
Despite actually good shooting conditions, only a few of the top athletes made no mistakes. One of them was the Norwegian Vebjörn Sörum. The 2020 Junior World Sprint Champion in Lenzerheide celebrated his first World Cup victory, followed by second-placed Frenchman Emilien Claude, who also made no mistakes. Sebastian Stalder from Zurich Oberland was also outstanding as usual in the shooting range, but is currently unable to keep up in the cross-country skiing and did not make it into the top 20.
The usual dominator Johannes Thingnes Bö had a pitch-black day in the Bavarian biathlon stronghold. He missed five times and finished outside the top 70.
