Biathlon: Danilo Riethmüller grabs his first career podium

Even Johannes Thingnes Bö cut his teeth on him: Danilo Riethmüller came second on Sunday (December 22, 2024) after a fantastic performance in the mass start in Annecy. The winner was Tarjei Bö.

Riethmüller was already the great hope in advance. The 25-year-old made a mistake in the sprint, but with a fantastic comeback in the pursuit he worked his way up from 29th place to seventh place and was therefore in good shape for the mass start. But Philipp Horn, who had finished fourth and eighth in the previous two Annecy races, also started with great confidence.

Riethmüller makes a mistake in the first shooting

The conditions in Annecy didn’t make it easy for any of the athletes. It was raining and the snow was soft – hard work first for the technicians and then of course for the athletes themselves. An increase in the pace by Campbell Wright ensured that the athletes had to fight on the first lap, but Johannes Thingnes was in charge for long stretches the pace.

With a brilliant series, Justus Strelow surprisingly took the lead ahead of Sturla Holm Laegreid and Bö and went into the second lap as the leader. Behind them, Philipp Nawrath (7th), Riethmüller (11th) and Johannes Kühn (14th) also held their own, Horn made a mistake.

Norwegians dominate at the top

Bö then increased the pace and spread the field considerably. Only his compatriots Vebjoern Soerum, Laegreid and Tarjei Bö were able to follow him; the German trio relatively quickly lost ten seconds to the Norwegians. The competition had to hope that these exceptional runners made mistakes at the shooting range – but Johannes Thingnes Bö was the only one who missed a target.

Strelow, Nawrath and Kühn were able to establish themselves in the chasing field, Riethmüller lost some ground with a mistake. For Horn the race was already over after the second shooting; he finished at the back of the field with a total of three mistakes.

Tarjej Bö cannot be beaten

Five Norwegians were the first to arrive at the third shooting stage – including Bö, who, despite his mistake, had largely recovered. The dominance of the exceptional team was once again impressive and it continued, even if not in step. Only Tarjei Bö made no mistakes and took the lead alone, 17 seconds ahead of Soerum and 20.5 seconds ahead of Laegreid. Riethmüller took advantage of the moment and moved up to fourth place (+31.7 seconds).

Tarjei Bö seemed to be just one shoot away from his first win of the season as his compatriots failed to narrow the gap significantly. And Riethmüller held on in fifth after Johannes Thingnes Bö rushed past him – although the German made a better impression than them remaining competition. Kühn and Nawrath ran the final shooting in ninth and tenth place.

Bö hunts down Riethmüller – and fails

Tarjei Bö missed the last shot, but the other Norwegians also made mistakes – and so nothing changed at the top. But right behind him, because Riethmüller showed his class and went on the track without any mistakes, only eleven seconds behind Bö. Laegreid followed him six seconds later, Johannes Thingnes Bö was eleven seconds behind the 25-year-old, who now had to give it his all.

Riethmüller didn’t get any closer to the leader, but above all he managed to initially retain a large part of his lead. There were seven seconds left and two kilometers to the finish, six seconds left before the last 1500 meters – and that was actually enough. Riethmüller was able to keep the exceptional athlete Bö at a distance, celebrated his first career podium and came second. An incredible success. And in the end we were only four seconds away from the winner.

“I was really shaking and until I got to the finish line I thought they would still get there. But somehow I managed it.”said Riethmüller, who also received the red jersey as mass start leader, in the Sportschau interview. “I managed to stay with myself and do my thing cleanly. That was great.”

Nawrath and Kühn also in the top 8

But it wasn’t just Riethmüller who shone in the German team. Nawrath also crossed the finish line in seventh place with just one shooting error, 36.3 seconds behind Bö, directly behind him Kühn was able to celebrate eighth place (+36.9 seconds) thanks to four perfect shooting shots.

Strelow made three mistakes while standing and fell back to 24th place (+2:22.6 minutes), Horn was 26th (+2:41.7 minutes).