Wierer and J. T. Boe prevail in Wiesbaden heat

Dorothea Wierer and Johannes Thingnes Boe prevailed at Wiesbaden’s City-Biathlon, with both cruising the last loop for comfortable wins on a hot 29 °C afternoon. Wierer took control after the first standing stage, running away to a 30:46.8 win over defending champion Julia Simon. Like Wierer, Johannes took control by cleaning the last two standing stages, easily taking the men’s title in 32:01.5.

Wiesbaden City-Biathlon 2021

The Italian used seven spare rounds in her win over the inner-city course. Simon, with six spares finished 35.6 seconds back, with Marketa Davidova, third, with nine spares, 1:14.9 back.

Doro and Julia

The battle among the eight elite women was short-lived. Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold initially led out of the start, but quickly fell back. struggling all afternoon on the shooting range. Everyone seemed to have trouble in the first prone stage even though the wind flags were completely flat. Still, Wierer got away with a small lead after using spare rounds, with Monika Hojnisz-Starega and Simon, 6.3 and 9.7 seconds back. Simon came back in the second prone to grab a two-second lead over the Italian. From this point, it was a two-woman competition. The duo came to the first standing, shooting side-by-side, but Wierer closed her five targets in six shots to grab a seven-second advantage. From that point, Wierer was on fire. The next five standing shots went down in quick succession; she was gone before her French rival fired one shot, pushing the lead to 27 seconds. The Italian made it a bit interesting in the last standing, with three quick shots, a miss, followed by a reset and another miss before the last target closed. Simon went five-for-five and was just eight seconds back.

Second Place Said Karimulla Khalili

Johannes used six spare rounds to claim the win, while second in the men’s field went to the 22-year-old Khalili on the start for his first big international rollerski competition. Khalili bettered everyone on the shooting range using just five spares, 16.4 seconds back. Lukas Hofer finished third, with nine spare rounds, 22.7 seconds back.

Tarjei and Johannes

Tarjei and Johannes controlled the pace from the start. Like the women, everyone needed spares in the first prone stage, but Tarjei got away in the top spot, with Dmytro Pidruchnyi and Erik Lesser less than three seconds back. Halfway through the next loop, Tarjei was 6 seconds up on the next three that included his brother. The second prone was all Pidruchnyi who went five-for five, assuming the lead as the Norwegians struggled with spare rounds. Johannes came out of the third prone with a .8 second lead, over Pidruchnyi and Roman Rees. The Norwegian used his ski speed to stretch the lead coming into the first standing stage. The Ukrainian again shot his way into the lead with a single spare round, with Johannes after using multiple spares 4.2 seconds back and Tarjei on his shoulder.

Clean Stages and Crashes

The brothers quickly passed Pidruchnyi; Tarjei led into the second standing. The leader shot three fast shots but struggled to close his last target. Johannes went five-for-five to take control. Johannes sealed the win with a final perfect standing stage. Tarjei fell after losing a rollerski just before the last standing, falling back to third, but recovered with an equally perfect stage to leave second. 23. 5 seconds back, with Khalili in third. However, the elder Boe brother again had a huge crash several hundred meters before the finish, knocking him out of the competition. He walked to the finish line, with cuts and scrapes on his arms, legs and face, yet was able to smile and comment to the crowd.

The last loop was a pure victory celebration for the three-time IBU World Cup Total Score winner, with time at one point to stop, look back and turn around with a huge smile before heading to the finish.

Photos: IBU/Harald Deubert