One collective demonstration followed another in the Oberhof temple. Only the color of the flag has changed. The day after the French hat-trick in the sprint, it was the Norwegians’ turn to privatize the podium this Saturday. With two small mistakes, Sturla Holm Laegreid signed his first victory of the winter, the 15th of his career, by dominating the chase ahead of the Boe brothers, Tarjei (+5″, 19/20) then Johannes (+20″, 17 /20). He is the fifth different Norwegian to achieve an individual victory this season. Two Frenchmen finished at the foot of the box. Despite a 15/20, Quentin Fillon Maillet (+24″), winner of the sprint, ranked 4th ahead of Eric Perrot (17/20) in the sprint.
Respectively 2nd and 3rd the day before, Fabien Claude and Emilien Jacquelin tumbled to 18th and 11th final places, weighed down by their 15/20, a fall that began from the 3rd shot. When he showed up, Claude, at 10/10 in the lying downs, was in control of the race with a 32″ lead over his compatriot, already joined by Laegreid. They then collapsed. Four laps for Claude. Three for Jacquelin. A godsend, a wide open door for the Norwegian, who with a 5/5 found himself alone in the lead and was never seen again despite a mistake on his last shot.
Six French people in the top 20
Fillon Maillet remained the only Frenchman in contention for a podium before the final pass in front of the targets. Then second, he shot very quickly but made a mistake, his fifth of the day. It was one too many to hope for a second podium in a row. Émilien Claude (17/20) took 13th place at 54″. On the blue side, ultimately, the best pursuit was achieved by Antonin Guigonnat (6th time). But he started from too far away (41st at 1’51”) to hope for much better than his 19th place, 1’19” behind the winner. Even if no Frenchman got on the box, this remains a remarkable overall result with six Tricolores in the top 20.
A little short on the last lap to catch up with his brother and Laegreid, Johannes Boe was the fastest on the track while Tarjei set the best time in the pursuit ahead of three compatriots (Stroemsheim, J. Boe and Laegreid). The Norwegians are thus setting the record straight the day after the tricolor card. Overall, Johannes Boe maintains the lead but is only 73 points ahead of Laegreid while Jacquelin (194 points behind) and Perrot (213) remain in 3rd and 4th place before the next individual event, in four days. in Ruhpolding (20km).
