Monday, February 18, 2002
German women earn biathlon relay gold again
Associated Press
MIDWAY, Utah -- Thanks to Uschi Disl's strong skiing legs
and Andrea Henkel's precise shooting eye, Germany confirmed its
status as the world's best women's biathlon team.
Quickly making up time after a bad first leg, the favored
Germans won their second straight gold medal in the 30-kilometer
relay on Monday.
By the time anchor Kati Wilhelm finished her 7.5K portion, the
early mistakes by teammate Katrin Apel had been long forgotten, as
Germany completed the Soldier Hollow course in 1 hour, 27 minutes,
55 seconds. Norway won the silver, finishing 30.6 seconds back.
Russia held off Bulgaria for the bronze, 1 minute, 24.7 seconds
behind.
"I thought that the gold was gone because of me," Apel said.
"But in the end it went well, and gold is gold."
Apel missed four shots on her second shooting stage, dropping
her team to 12th place. She moved up to sixth by the time she
tapped Disl on the back to start the second leg. Disl was the
fastest skier on the course, and when she gave way to Henkel,
Germany was back in front by 21.2 seconds.
Henkel wrapped up the victory by hitting all 10 targets with her
.22-caliber rifle, boosting the lead to a commanding 38.6 seconds.
In the four events, Henkel missed just four targets out of 60.
"Definitely, the shooting is my forte," Henkel said. "So you
can concentrate and be calm on the shooting range, because you know
it's your strong point."
The U.S. team of Andrea Nahrgang, Kara Salmela, Rachel Steer and
Kristina Sabasteanski ended a disappointing Olympics by finishing
last among the 15-team field.
"I don't think any of us would tell you that we came here just
to race," Steer said. "This was our last chance, and we didn't
want to have a bad experience."
Wilhelm became the first woman at the Salt Lake Games with three
medals; she won the sprint last week and finished second in the
pursuit. Henkel won gold in the 15K race. And Disl, competing in
her fourth Olympics, won her eighth career medal, extending her
record for the women's sport.
Russia was regarded as the only team with a real chance of
beating the Germans, but Galina Koukleva's erratic shooting on the
second leg removed any chance for the gold.
"I think my shooting was outright horrible today," Koukleva
said. "I define biathlon as nerves, nerves, nerves. It was a
nerve-racking experience. I guess that was obvious."
Under the rules, each biathlete fires twice, the first time
prone and the second from the more difficult standing position.
They get eight bullets to make five targets, but if they go through
the first five in their clips, they must load each bullet
individually after that. For each of the black, circular targets
left standing, the skier must circle a 150-meter penalty loop
situated nearby.
Germany incurred just one such penalty during the whole race,
and that belonged to Apel, who emptied her clip, used up all her
extra bullets and still couldn't hit the final target. Like all the
German women, however, Apel is an excellent skier and quickly made
up some time.
The Norwegians' only chance was for Wilhelm to falter on the
last target range, and she did just that, missing two shots. But
Norway's Liv Grete Poiree couldn't capitalize, missing twice as
well. She left the range 42.8 seconds back, with no hope of
catching Wilhelm.
