The Voigt twins: The biathlete and the photographer share Olympic journey at Beijing 2022

“Together in mother’s belly, together at theOlympics,” said Vanessa Voigt under her Instagram post after her individual biathlon race at Beijing 2022.

The German biathlete had just finished in fourth place, 0.3 seconds off the podium.

She had a very special person waiting to hug her at the finish line - her twin brother Kevin, who has made a successful career in sports photography and is now working in Beijing as an accredited photographer.

The Voigt twins grew up in the small town of Floh-Seligenthal in the Thuringian Forest. Aged three, they started cross country skiing in elementary school.

After showing promise, Vanessa enrolled in the renowned Oberhof Sports School that graduated an entire generation of successful winter athletes. Kevin - who is three minutes older than Vanessa – was not accepted to the school. He had a hard time coping with the separation from his sister.

“As a twin brother, this split was not so easy for me at that time and I thought about how I could best support my sister. Since I didn't want to stand at the competition and only shout 'Hop hop - faster faster', I bought my first camera. Gradually, more and more athletes were interested in my pictures.”

Meanwhile, his sister was having second thoughts.

“I quickly got bored with cross country. I found myself counting the trees in the forest and looking jealously at (shooting) targets. At 13, I switched to biathlon.”

Her brother came along. He attended the school’s practices and competitions - with a camera.

At the age of 15, Kevin was already working as a photojournalist, with his work being published to the pages of German newspapers and magazines.

Last season Vanessa qualified for the World Cup of biathlon, and Kevin joined the World Cup