German Championships - Part 1: Oberhof
September 17th 2004: Sprint
September 18th 2004: Pursuit
September 19th 2004: Relay

Again international athletes took part in this year's German Championships. The Swiss national team, the female Bulgarian team and Jay Hakkinen from the U.S.A. had come to compete with the German athletes.
Young athletes made clear how strong they are on the first day of the competitions. Daniel Graf became German Champion in the sprint, Michael Roesch took second place, third became Michael Greis on that wonderfully sunny day. Sven wasn't happy that day. He became 7th, though he had only one miss.

The women's ranking: Kati Wilhelm ahead of Uschi Disl and Simone Denkinger.
The weather remained sunny next day, but gusty winds made things rather difficult for the athletes in the pursuit. I think that's why so many missed occured, especially in the men's race. Sven had  penalty rounds, but could nevertheless improve to 6th place and said: "That was a bit better". Michael Greis took the title ahead of Ricco Gross and Daniel Graf. Youngster Michael Roesch did very well again, he ended 4th. 

Simone Denkinger won the women's pursuit ahead of Kati Wilhelm and Martina Glagow.

The presentation ceremony of the sprint and pursuit competitions took place that evening.
The relay (3 athletes per team) took place on Sunday. The Bavarian team with Ricco Gross, Andreas Birnbacher and Michael Greis became German Champions. Joern Wollschlaeger, Sven and Daniel Graf started for Thuringia, Michael Roesch, Carsten Heymann and Carsten Pump formed Saxonia's team. 
Ricco Gross took the lead for Bavaria and Andreas Birnbacher and Sven had an exciting duel on their leg. Sven shot fast and clean, finally overtook Andreas Birnbacher and changed first. Flautless shooting, fastest athlete of the day - Sven couldn't complain about his race. - But Michael Roesch had one of his bad days: after shooting extremely quickly and clear in the prone position, his legs were trembling so badly while shooting standing, that he had 4 penalty rounds. In the end Saxonia's team became third after Thuringia.

Same result for the women: Bavaria (Uschi Disl, Katharina Echter, Martina Glagow) ahead of Thuringia (Andrea Henkel, Katrin Apel, Kati Wilhelm) and Saxonia (Katja Beer, Ute Niziak, Ina Menzel).

Peter Sendel had been ill the week before, he didn't take part in the competitions.

 

 
German Championships - Part 2: Ruhpolding
September 23rd 2004 Individual
September 25th 2004 Sprint (no GC competition!)
September 26th 2004 Mass Start

The days in Ruhpolding were in contrast to the ones in Oberhof concerning the weather. It was cold and raining day after day. We could even see that the peaks of the mountains around had whitened over night on the weekend! At least there was no rain during the mass starts on Sunday.
There were international competitors in Ruhpolding aswell: athletes from Great Britain, Canada, U.S.A., Czech Republic and Belarus took part in some races.
First competition in Ruhpolding was the individual. It was raining cats and dogs all day long, but the organizers had built a kind of tent in the starting area, so the athletes didn't have to wait for their start in the downpour. The absence of wind was the only positive thing I can think of, when I think about the weather.
Sven couldn't hold his title in the indivudual, but he became 2nd just behind Ricco Gross and ahead of Michi Greis. Youngster Daniel Graf did well again, he took 4th place.

Katrin Apel won the women's title because of excellent shooting (4 x 0!) ahead of Simone Denkinger and Uschi Disl.
Then there was a (rainy) day off, followed by a rainy Saturday and the "sprint on conditions of the relay". This competition is not part of the German Championships but part of the anual Autumn Performance Test. It means that the athletes are allowed to reload 3 times. If not all targets had been hit after that, they have to run the penalty loop. An other difference to the "normal" sprint: not only the women, but also the men's distance is 7,5 km. 
And the young athletes showed their strength once more: Andreas Birnbacher won ahead of Daniel Graf, Sven took 3rd place.

Winner of the women's race was Simone Denkinger ahead of  Katrin Apel and Martina Glagow.

In the evening there was the presentation ceremony for the previous two competitions.
The mass start competitions were the last ones of the Championships. Something pleasant: no rain during the races! Andreas Birnbacher won another time, Michael Greis became 2nd, Daniel Graf 3rd. Sven took 5th place.

Katrin Apel won the women's race and took her 2nd title ahead of  Simone Denkinger and Uschi Disl.
These are the overall results of the German Championships/Autumn Performance Test: 

1. Michael Greis
2. Ricco Gross
3. Andreas Birnbacher
4. Sven Fischer
5. Daniel Graf
6. Carsten Heymann
7. Carsten Pump
8. Michael Roesch
9. Sven Kretzschmar
10. Joern Wollschlaeger

As mentioned before, Peter Sendel couldn't take part in any of the races. Alexander Wolf was weekenend aswell and couldn't show his potential due to that fact. Anyway, national team coach Frank Ullrich had announced his team for the first 3 World Cups in December of the next season even before the Championships: Sven, Michael Greis, Ricco Gross, Andreas Birnbacher, Peter Sendel, Alexander Wolf and Michael Roesch are the ones who will compete in Scandinavia. But Ullrich said, that Daniel Graf will take part in the coming training camps because of his good results. 

The women's results:

1. Simone Denkinger
2. Martina Glagow
3. Uschi Disl
4. Katrin Apel
5. Kati Wilhelm
6. Katja Beer
7. Andrea Henkel
8. Jenny Adler
9. Ute Niziak
10. Kathrin Hitzer

Simone Denkinger, Uschi Disl, Katrin Apel, Kati Wilhelm and Martina Glagow are firmly established in the team. The decision about the remaining 2 places will be made after the coming training camps.

 
Click here for the pictures of the German Championships 2004.

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