Norway’s Yellow Bib-wearing Sturla Holm Laegreid’s 20-for-20 shooting in this afternoon’s Oslo Holmenkollen Men’s 12.5 km Pursuit proved the difference in his 31:40 victory after battling teammate JT Boe for the win. Shooting together in the last standing stage, Laegreid cleaned while JT went to the penalty loop, giving his younger teammate the victory.

“I did an incredible thing!”

Laegreid’s win sealed his first-ever big Crystal Globe for the World Cup Total Score. He called the fight with JT, “a battle I will remember for the rest of my life. Johannes is in his best shape and impossible to beat. But today I did it. I did an incredible thing and secured the Globe, so I really wrote down history after Johannes. It’s good!”

Last standing, “It was now or never”

Filled with emotion and tears flowing, Laegreid explained the importance of winning the Total Score. “Of course, I knew the whole race if I beat him, I would win the Total Score. I knew that going into the last shooting together, it was now or never! When I skied out on the last loop alone, I really could not believe it. It is a dream come true really. All my friends and family are here supporting me. It has been my biggest goal since I started with biathlon, so it means a lot."

JT, in the final Pursuit of his career, had three penalties in second place, 20.5 seconds back. France’s Quentin Fillon Maillet prevailed in third place after a shoulder-to shoulder battle with Italy’s Tommaso Giacomel down to the final meters, 28.9 to 29.1 seconds back. Both had a single penalty. Fillon Maillet’s third place put all of the Total Score titlists for the last seven years together on the podium.

Norway’s Isak Frey and Johannes Dale-Skjevdal claimed fifth and sixth, with two and four penalties, 1:37.5 and 1:46.4 back, respectively.

The last pursuit Saturday of the season was again spring-like, with a bit more wind than for the sprints.

Photos: IBU/Nordnes, Manzoni, Nordic Focus