Spectacular pictures are guaranteed at Schalke. © Biathlon on Schalke

Biathlon at Schalke: France defends title

In the absence of South Tyrolean participants, France successfully defended last year's triumph at the World Team Challenge in Schalke.

28 December 2023

From: Leo/dpa

In recent years, the show event at Schalke has been a fixed date for Dorothea Wierer & Co. Because the woman from Niederrasner is in poor health this year and also missed the first World Cup stage of the new year in Oberhof, Italy did not send a team into the race. Because Lisa Vittozzi is fully concentrating on the overall World Cup. The event at Schalke still offered a lot of spectacle and was won by Julia Simon and Fabien Claude.

The French duo prevailed ahead of the Norwegians Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold and Sturla Holm Laegreid as well as Jakov Fak and Polona Klemencic from Slovenia. The German hosts (Roman Rees and Janina Hettich-Walz) came fourth. The majority of fans in the football stadium of second division club FC Schalke 04 have to wait for their first home win since 2016. Back then, Vanessa Hinz and Simon Schempp won.

Simon and Claude outstanding

Former world champions Simon and Claude dominated the first part of the event. They finished the mass start with a lead of 50,5 seconds over Hanna Kebinger and Benedikt Doll. This distance for the pursuit race was then reduced to 20 seconds. Despite the home advantage, the four athletes from the German Ski Association were no longer able to catch the repeat offenders. The two Frenchmen won with a lead of 57,5 seconds and were accompanied to the finish by a standing ovation.