Germany’s Herrmann gets biathlon gold for rare Olympic medal double

Zhangjiakou, China (dpa) – Germany’s Denise Herrmann celebrated Olympic biathlon gold on Monday at the Beijing Games, eight years after winning a cross-country bronze.

Herrmann missed just one of 20 targets at the shooting range to triumph in the individual 15-kilometre race in 44 minutes 12.7 seconds.

Anais Chevalier-Boucher of France got her second silver, following that from Saturday’s mixed relay, 8.4 seconds back with one miss. World Cup leader Marte Olsbu Röiseland of Norway missed two targets and got bronze, 15.4 seconds off the pace.

In the 15km, and the men’s 20km, athletes don’t ski a penalty loop for each miss but have a minute added to their skiing time. Ukraine’s Irina Petrenko was the only athlete from the 87 starters to shoot clean.

“I am unbelievably happy and proud,” Herrmann told German broadcasters ZDF. “I felt good and I know that I can do. You have to stay cool on the shooting range.”

She later added: “It’s a dream you have as a child and the dream came true today. It’s unbelievable.”

Herrmann was originally a cross-country skier and won relay bronze at the 2014 Games in Sochi.

She switched to biathlon, which adds rifle shooting to the skiing, in 2016 and success came soon in the form of the 2019 pursuit world title.

She has six medals overall from the worlds and six World Cup race wins but gold Monday came in a season when she had only one World Cup podium in third in the very first race in November.

“It’s a totally extreme situation right now. I got kicked in the face so often this year. But I knew I could do it,” she said.

Herrmann joins Russian Anfisa Reztsova as the only athletes to win Olympic medals in biathlon and cross-country skiing.

World champion Marketa Davidova of the Czech Republic was sixth and the 2018 gold medallist Hanna Öberg of Sweden placed 16th.

The Germans almost got another medal when Olympic debutant Vanessa Voigt missed the podium by a mere 1.3 seconds in fourth, rebounding superbly from a difficult mixed relay performance.

“This fourth place is like a gold medal for me,” the 24-year-old said.