Just five months before the IBU World Championships will be contested in Oberhof, the Lotto Arena in Oberhof hosted the German Summer Championships this past weekend. Although a few of the big stars like Franziska Preuss and Benedikt Doll were absent, the weekend was highly competitive.

Individuals

The three competition days kicked off with individuals on Friday. The women’s 12.5 km saw Sophia Schneider, despite five penalties take the title in 39:59.1. Second place went to Marion Wiesensarter, with four penalties, 1:22.7 back. Julianne Fruehwirt also with four penalties finished third, 1:25.8 back.

The men’s 15 km individual was a tightly contested battle with a twist. The top four men all had two penalties, so the places were decided on the tracks. Philipp Horn came out in first place, finishing in 35:57.7. Second place went to Lucas Fratzscher, 26.6 seconds back with Philipp Nawrath in third, 32.1 seconds back. Roman Rees at 40.1 seconds back was the odd man out in fourth place.

The twist in the men’s competition was the final appearance of now TV commentator Erik Lesser. Lesser was as usual sharp on the range despite no serious training, with three penalties, finishing 26th, 5:08.3 back.

Sprint Saturday

Sprint Saturday was simply déjà vu with Sophia Schneider and Philipp Horn again atop the podium.

German Champion Schneider, with two penalties finished in 21:32.2. Olympic Champion Denise Herrmann, despite three penalties was hot on Schneider’s heels, four seconds back. The Bronze medal went to Julianne Fruehwirt, with two penalties, 23.8 seconds back. That settles the German Championships podium. However, the field also included a big group of guests from the USA, Italy and Switzerland. The Swiss provided a surprise with Lena Haecki Gross going one better than the home team by shooting clean and finishing in 21:10.9 to give her the overall victory. Lisa Vittozzi with four penalties was the second guest, 26.7 seconds back.

Horn with two penalties finished in 22:26.2, 7.6 seconds ahead of silver medalist Simon Kaiser with one penalty. Matthias Dorfer, with a single penalty finished third, 24,2 seconds back.

Pursuit Sunday

The two double winners Sophia Schneider and Philipp Horn in the first two days were dethroned in Sunday’s pursuits. Olympic Champion Denise Herrmann moved up from second in the sprint to claim the German Pursuit Championships. Marion Wiesensarter finished second with Janina Hettich completing the podium.

However, once again, Switzerland’s Lena Haecki Gross was the overall winner giving her a sprint/pursuit double.

In the men’s pursuit, Roman Rees won the men’s Gold medal, with Matthias Dorfer taking the Silver medal and Justus Strelow in the Bronze spot.

Photos: IBU/ Harald Deubert