Niklas Hartweg achieves a strong 5th place in the individual event at the World Championships in Lenzerheide. The man from Schwyz cannot be happy about this result in front of 6300 spectators, because much more would have been possible.
19.02.2025, 16:45
19.02.2025, 17:27
SDA
With two faults you usually drop out of the rankings. However, it gradually became apparent that something was still possible for Hartweg thanks to his strong running performance early on. And indeed, the medal was suddenly within reach again before four athletes were faster.
Hartweg initially made a mistake in the second shooting stage. In the individual event, this is compensated with a penalty minute, which is why the hits in this discipline are particularly important - a penalty round would only cost a good 20 seconds. The mistake with the 20th and last bullet knocked him off the podium.
There is no subjunctive mood in biathlon. Nevertheless, if Hartweg had always hit the target, he would have finished second behind the winner Eric Perrot from France, and third behind the Italian Tommaso Giacomel with one miss. However, bronze went to Quentin Fillon Maillet, who finished 16 seconds ahead of Hartweg with three (!) misses.
Johannes Thingnes Bö, winner of the sprint and pursuit, opened the door for his competitors with three misses in the first attempt. After five penalty minutes, he ultimately finished just inside the top 20. The other Norwegians also showed unusual weaknesses.
Sebastian Stalder, of all people, missed the first target. He cleared the next 19 targets. The man from the Zurich Oberland just missed the top ten in eleventh place. Joscha Burkhalter skied well, but conceded four penalty minutes.
The Swiss team has now sniffed a medal three times at its home World Championships. Lena Häcki-Gross came close twice. Now Hartweg, who will make her next attempt in the single mixed relay with Amy Baserga on Thursday.
