JT Boe Doubles Up with Hochfilzen Pursuit Win
Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Boe regained control of this afternoon’s Hochfilzen Men’s 12.5 km Pursuit in the last loop after penalties in the standing stages dropped him from the lead. Moving back to the front in the final kilometer, the Norwegian cruised to a 32:16.5 victory for a Hochfilzen Sprint/Pursuit double.
JT, “I can say sorry. It was a fight”
JT explained what happened when Emilien Jacquelin fell on the last uphill. “It was an incredible fight. You know, when you are in a race incident, we are close; he was attacking. I was behind. I had his back and when I went on the right of him, he cut in on the right. So, I can say sorry. It was a fight, but he tried to get in front of me and I was already on the side. He fell; too bad, but it is how it is.”
Jacquelin, “I thought I had a chance”
France’s Jacquelin, up from 14th at the start, despite the fall, sprinted past Norway’s Sturla Holm Laegreid in the last 20 meters, taking second place, 3.5 seconds back. “If I think about my race, it is quite a good race, nearly perfect with one mistake, really fast on the tracks. I could not make better than this. Of course, I am quite disappointed to finish second in this way. I really wanted to have this fight with Johannes until the end…I think his ski touched mine; I did not see it but that is how I felt it. When I was down, I said, ‘no way today’ and I waited for Sturla and tried to finish second…I can’t say I would win for sure, but I thought I had a chance.”
Laegreid finished third, 3.8 seconds back. Both Laegreid and Jacquelin had one penalty. Sweden’s Sebastian Samuelsson, with three penalties, moved from sixth at the start to fourth, 47 seconds back. Norwegian teammates Martin Uldal and Vebjoern Soerum, finished fifth and sixth, each with three penalties, 47.6 and 50.1 seconds back.
Dreary Day: JT Leads
Brilliant sprint day sunshine turned into a dreary pursuit day, cloudy with the wind flags flat. JT led into the first prone, shot quickly and clean; Laegreid followed closely behind. Samuelsson, also perfect got away third, 23 seconds back. The second prone was a repeat: JT fast and clean, Laegreid 5 seconds back and Samuelsson and Uldal,16 seconds back. The leader stretched the margin to 10 seconds before the first standing. The Yellow/Red Bib missed once; Laegreid cleaned taking an 11-second lead with Jacquelin 2 seconds back. Jacquelin and JT caught Laegreid as they went into the tunnel heading to the back loop.
BMW IBU World Cup 2 Men's 12.5 km Pursuit
Last Loop Battle
The trio shot the last standing together, all with a penalty, Jacquelin left .6-seconds before the Yellow/Red Bib, and Laegreid 2 seconds back. JT regained control on the back loop. Jacquelin fell on the second uphill, losing ground, but battled back, outsprinting Laegreid for second.
Photos: IBU/Yevenko, Nordic Focus/Christian Manzoni, Leo Authamayou
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