France’s Emilien Jacquelin sprinted up the final hill into the Südtirol Arena this afternoon and held his edge over Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Boe through the finish line to win the IBU Men’s World Championship Pursuit in 31:15.2. The 24-year-old shot clean on his way to his first-ever IBU World Championships medal. Johannes with two penalties won the Silver medal, .4 seconds back. Russia’s Alexander Loginov, with one penalty won the Bronze medal, 23.9 seconds back.

Jacquelin’s teammate Martin Fourcade, with one penalty finished fourth, 46.3 seconds back. Arnd Peiffer of Germany with one penalty finished fifth, 53.9 seconds back. Johannes’ brother Tarjei, with two penalties, was sixth, 1:12.5 back.

Loginov in the LeadBy the time the men started 2 hours after the women, the air had warmed to +6C and the wind had picked up just enough to make shooting trickier. Loginov went out in the lead but Fillon Maillet caught him quickly and they skied into the first prone together. The Russian cleaned while Fillon Maillet had four penalties. Fourcade and Jacquelin also cleaned to go out second and third, 12 and 23 seconds back with Tarjei and Johannes next but 30 and 40 seconds back after a penalty loop.

Fourcade Moves UpLoginov held the lead to the second prone, shot fast and clean. Fourcade shot slowly and also clean as did Jacquelin; they still trailed the Russian by 10 and 15 seconds. Johannes after closing the gap had another penalty to remain 4th, 33 seconds off the pace.

Jacquelin to SecondThe top three maintained their positions as they came to the first standing stage but Fourcade moved to within 5 seconds of the leader. Loginov was again perfect and heading for the last standing stage. The Yellow Bib had a penalty but his teammate went 15-for-15 to move to second while Johannes also perfect went out of the stadium a step ahead of Fourcade, 25 seconds back, setting up a potential podium battle between the old rivals.

Jacquelin and Johannes in FrontLoginov shot fast but missed one shot in the last standing while Johannes and Jacquelin both shot as fast but clean, with the rising French star in the lead by .1 seconds heading out for the last 2.5 km loop. Loginov was 8 seconds back. Fourcade added a penalty, leaving in fourth, 34 seconds back.

Last HillBy 11.1 km, Johannes was in front but Jacquelin was not losing any ground, matching him stride-for-stride. Both were fatigued, slowing at one point to almost a crawl but at the same time watching each other carefully. Jacquelin pushed hard up the last hill under the bridge, taking the inside line on the last turns, pulling a meter or two in front for his first IBU World Championship.

Photos: IBU/ Christian Manzoni, Petr Slavik