Dairy Report: World Cup 2003 In Oberhof

The first world cup competitions of the new year took place in Oberhof from the 8^th to the 12^th January. Since it was Andrea’s home world cup, many fan club members came to support her loudly. At the same time this world cup should be the final rehearsal for the world championships 2004, which will take place in the most modern biathlon stadium of the world.

	At Andrea the steam was never gone! - ©AHFC

Tuesday, 7^th January
The first fan club members already arrived in Oberhof in the early morning hours, but further members should follow in the course of the day. Everybody wanted to see the first official training, which should be started at 1.30 p.m. For most of us it was the first contact with the new stadium as well. There were not that many spectators in the huge stadium; maybe the arctic temperatures, which were about 14 degrees below zero, caused this! While Andrea was still testing her skis far away from us, we already started to build up our placard – at these temperatures it was really a welcoming change. Andrea’s training went pretty well and made us hoping for the sprint competition the next day. After the training we went back to the Eckardtskopf to check in and to prepare for the next days.

In the evening we set out for the opening ceremony in the spa gardens of Oberhof where they distributed the starting numbers as well. Here we got the first atmospherically foretaste of the following days. Afterwards we went to the So&So, where we had our long-awaited revenge in darts between Danthe/Kitec and Joerg/Juergen. Those, who want to know the outcome, can read the report about the Germany cup, the result was nearly the same.

Wednesday, 8^th January
Having had a good sleep we went up to the stadium towards noon. The first world cup competition was on the program – the women’s sprint. Even if it was icy-cold again – the stadium was crowded and the atmosphere was pretty good, especially when the athletes run their first round through the stadium. Andrea stared off the race with starting number 53 and the closer she came to the finishing-line, the more we got nervous. Anyway, Andrea showed a fantastic competition and finished narrowly beaten on place 4 - with 0 penalties and a great running performance on the perhaps most difficult track in the whole world cup. Bravo Andrea!!!

In the evening we went into the spa gardens again to watch the presentation ceremony and to celebrate “our” Andrea… The show group from Suhl took care of a good atmosphere and when the presentation ceremony finally started the crowd got really loud and mad. Well, we ended the day properly – that goes without saying! ;o)

	Hard-working autograph writing after the sprint competition - ©Sören Klemig

Thursday, 9^th January
After a long night and having heavy legs we went back into the biathlon stadium the next morning. We arrived just in time to watch the women’s training again. During this training session Andrea could confirm the strong impression she made on us the days before, so we were full of excitement for the relay, which should take place the next day.

After the training most of us decided to go back to the hotel, because it was much too cold to stand in the stadium for 6 or 7 hours. Anyway, Danthe and Juergen preferred a short stop at the parasol-bar near the Oberhofer ski lift. When the men’s sprint competition has already been over for some time both latecomers finally arrived the hotel. .

Friday, 10^th January
Today there was the relay competition of the women on the program. For the first time in this season the golden relay should start – a perfect Olympic revenge! Already from the beginning it was a shoulder-to-shoulder race with the Russian team. Andrea started in third position and put on the maybe most exciting duel of the day together with G. Koukleva. Both athletes were incredibly fast and sure at the shooting range and additionally were among the fastest skiers (they had the 3rd and 4th running time of all competitors). In the end the German team could win the very exciting relay competition in front of Russia. We still celebrated this victory together with many other spectators in the stadium for a long time before we finally went back (making a small detour to the parasol-bar;-)).

Well, in the evening we couldn’t miss the presentation ceremony, of course, so we went to the spa garden and joined the cheerful crowd. Here the scenery was just huge and remarkably loud.

Afterwards we immediately went to the Felix, where we had the fan club members meeting and touched our glasses on Andrea and the rest of the team.

Saturday, 11^th January
After a long night we went up to the stadium again… Some of us came too late to see the men’s relay but anyway – at least they were in good time for the women’s training. J Here the fan club was completely represented and could watch Andrea’s shooting bouts carefully – and one was better than the other!!!

	Andrea on place 4 visibly satisfied - ©AHFC

In the evening we went back to the Felix again. A live band made a fantastic atmosphere possible there. In between Juergen und Joerg visited Andrea for a few minutes to get the brand new autograph cards from Viessmann!!!

And – that was to be expected – there was someone joining us late at night: Matze!!! He wanted to see at least one world cup competition so he spontaneously decided to come to Oberhof and just arrived towards midnight. Well, there were many things report and to talk about, of course.

Sunday, 12^th January
For a last time we went back into the new Biathlon Mecca at the Grenzadler. The mass start competitions of men and women promised to get exciting because of the extremely hard track. The athletes would have to take the descent through the “Wolfsschlucht” reaching speeds of more than 72 km/h five times, but the longest and most difficult ascent, the “Birksteig” as well! When the women started off their race, the atmosphere in the stadium was really suspicious for world championships. Well, it should become a spectacular competition! In the finishing spurt Uschi still caught E. Dafovska, who was leading for a long time, at the home straight. Under frenetically jubilations she won the competition with a very slim lead. A real photo finish! Andrea reached a pretty good 12^th place and the “Birksteig” had lost his scare – at least for this year. ;o)

As a thank-you the whole women’s team started a “La Ola” wave, which was sloshing through the stadium countless times. There has never been a better farewell in Oberhof!

After the men’s mass start competition a fantastic world cup time was over. In the end we still had our obligatory coffee but towards 8 p.m. even the last ones set out home… with much melancholy.

Our Résumé:
The stadium and the spectators presented themselves as absolutely suitable for world championships. Contrary to other reports we think the spectators have been really fair! What Andrea showed us during her home game was absolute world-class – even if the track was pretty difficult and she had many meetings and duties to fulfill offside the stadium. In Oberhof the athletes not only had to show best performances and records on the track but next to it as well!

Here you can find the photos of the World Cup in Oberhof

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