Franziska Preuß reaches for the large crystal ball. © ANSA / JAVAD PARSA

0,2 seconds: This thriller fascinates the biathlon world

Who will win the women's biathlon crystal globe? That's the big question that will be answered at this weekend's World Cup finals. Friday's sprint was a true thriller.

March 21, 2025

From: det

The biathletes competed in the final sprint of the season in Oslo for around 21 minutes. But in the end, just 0,2 seconds separated them from first place. It's unbelievable, but it shows the level of the world's best biathletes.

And the current best biathletes are Franziska Preuß of Germany and Lou Jeanmonnot of France. Both are still battling for the overall World Cup title at the World Cup finals in Oslo. On Friday, the stage victory went to Preuß, who beat the Frenchwoman by a measly 0,2 seconds.

Lou Jeanmonnot was defeated by a mere 10 points. © ANSA / JAVAD PARSA

In the overall standings, Preuß leads Lou Jeanmonnot by 35 points before Saturday's pursuit and the following day's mass start. With her third victory of the season, Preuß, who shot clean, already secured the small crystal globe for the discipline ranking. Jeanmonnot also cleared all ten targets. Third place went to Finland's Suvi Minkkinen (+21,9 seconds).

Wierer is struggling

Italy's biathletes didn't play a major role in the final sprint of the season. Michela Carrara, the best Azzurra athlete, finished 24th, with two penalties. Dorothea Wierer missed only once, but the Niederrasner athlete struggled on the cross-country course, finishing 35th. Linda Zingerle (61st/1 penalty), Hannah Auchentaller (77th/3 penalties), and Rebecca Passler (93rd/4 penalties) finished far behind.

In the men's competition, there was a Norwegian five-way victory on Friday. The pursuits will take place on Saturday (men from 13.45:15.50 p.m., women from 13.15:15.40 p.m.), before the biathlon season concludes on Sunday with the mass starts. The women start at XNUMX:XNUMX p.m., the men at XNUMX:XNUMX p.m.