Accurate in the freezer

(December 16, 2024) Leonie Walter and Anja Wicker take the first German victories of the young Para Ski Nordic winter in temperatures of around minus 16 degrees in Vuokatti (Finland). Leonie Walter wins both the biathlon individual race and the sprint pursuit. Alexander Ehler surprises.

Anja Wicker was asked on Sunday afternoon whether she could still move her fingers. The 32-year-old from MTV Stuttgart answered with her own sense of humor. “Finger? Which fingers?” At this point, the athlete from the sitting women’s starting class had two biathlon competitions in the freezing cold of Vuokatti in her bones within around 24 hours: the individual race over 12.5 kilometers and the sprint pursuit, in which she even had to take to the 2.4-kilometer sit-ski course twice – first in the qualification, then in the final.

“They were two extremely hard days. That makes me all the more proud of my performance,” said Wicker – and she was completely right. When running, she was unimpressed by the conditions and at the shooting range she gave her fingers the command to pull the trigger 40 times in a row at the right moment. Zero mistakes in eight shooting rounds and an impressive performance on the track – that meant second place in the individual on Saturday (as in the sprint on Thursday before) behind the American Kendall Gretsch and a thoroughly convincing victory on Sunday (in Gretsch’s absence). “Anja ran very well – even if you compare the men’s times,” said national coach Ralf Rombach.

Leonie Walter (SC St. Peter) also performed flawlessly on Saturday and Sunday in the women’s visually impaired category. “I felt very safe at the shooting range, although I had to be careful that my fingers didn’t freeze and that I could still feel the trigger,” reported the 20-year-old. Because she hit all the targets and was also convincing on the cross-country ski trail, she won both competitions alongside her guide Christian Krasman – in each case ahead of the Chinese Yue Wang, who she had lost to on Thursday. Johanna Recktenwald finished all races in third place, on Saturday and Thursday alongside substitute guide Florian Baumann, and on Sunday for the first time with Louisa Haag, who had recovered from a cold, as her companion.

Marco Maier wins silver in the pursuit

Alexander Ehler (SV Kirchzarten) narrowly missed the podium twice in fourth place in the men’s standing class. It was still a great success for the 55-year-old veteran in the team. Because he finally transferred the shooting confidence that he consistently shows in training to the races – Ehler, like Wicker and Walter, made no mistakes – and because he proved once again that he has nothing to hide from his competitors, some of whom are much younger. “I could hardly move because of the cold,” said Ehler, laughing. “Really good,” said Ralf Rombach about his veteran’s performance.

In the individual event on Saturday, Marco Maier (SV Kirchzarten) came fifth and Steffen Lehmker (WSV Clausthal-Zellerfeld) came eighth, making for a very pleasing team result, while World Cup debutant Max Long (SV Kirchzarten) came 17th. On Sunday, Lehmker came 13th and Long 18th. Maier came second behind Canadian Mark Arendz and missed the sprint pursuit victory by 26.44 seconds. The 24-year-old from Allgäu was undone by a mistake in the last shooting, which forced him to go into the penalty loop. “It’s annoying! If I hit the target, Mark and I will go out together. Then it will probably be exciting right up to the finish line,” he said. His running performance, however, made him feel positive. “I can keep up with the front runners, I saw that in the three biathlon races in Vuokatti.” And the national coach saw that too. “On the cross-country track, Marco is currently the fastest of the competition,” he said. A good sign for the cross-country skiing competitions, which begin on Tuesday with the classic sprint?

Weakened by health problems as a result of the extreme cold combined with the high humidity, Andrea Eskau (USC Magdeburg) in the women’s sitting and the two men with visual impairments, Nico Messinger (Ring der Körperbehinderten Freiburg, with guide Robin Wunderle) and Lennart Volkert (PSV Munich), had no chance of making the podium. “I can’t cope with these conditions at all,” reported Messinger. Eskau – all joking aside – actually got frostbite on her trigger finger, which had a huge impact on her. She came sixth on Saturday and fifth on Sunday. Messinger came seventh twice, Volkert came ninth on Saturday with Michael Huhn as guide and eighth on Sunday with Florian Baumann at his side.

Photo: Vuokati Sport