Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Boe used his formidable ski speed to secure his first win of the new BMW IBU World Cup season, taking the Kontiolahti Men’s 10 km sprint in 23:09. He sealed the victory with a speedy last loop after picking up a standing penalty that left him with a mere 2.8 second lead over teammate Sturla Holm Laegreid who finished second. Laegreid shot clean but finished 10.5 seconds back. Germany’s Roman Rees, after finishing fourth in the 20 km individual four days ago also shot clean to finish third, 28.8 seconds back.

“Most important is to get the win”

Although JT won his third consecutive Kontiolahti sprint, he was not satisfied with his one penalty. “You can be (satisfied) but you are always hunting for clean shooting in the sprint, especially having a pursuit the day after. It is a little bit frustrating. Most important is to get to win. Missing one means that you are able to miss one more and then I would be out of the victory. Today I am happy that I finished first in a very tight race.”

Back in Yellow

Sweden’s Sebastian Samuelsson, with one penalty finished fourth, 36.2 seconds back. Emilien Jacquelin of France finished fifth, with one penalty, 39.5 seconds back. Filip Fjeld Andersen, with one penalty finished sixth, 49.7 seconds back.

Good Norwegian Prone Shooting

A 97-man field opened the sprint season on a very wintery morning with a -7C reading on the thermometer and slightly stronger winds than the previous days cutting across the range from right to left. Samuelsson, hoping for a win in the first sprint of the season like last year set the table with a quick clean prone stage. Laegreid matched, quickly moving into second position, just 2.2 seconds back. Start number 50, JT after seeing what his rivals were doing, outshot them by a dozen seconds, claiming the top spot. Just after, Andersen also cleaned, giving the Norwegian team three of the top four prone times.

Opening the Door

A missed shot by Samuelsson opened the door for his rivals. Laegreid seized the opportunity by cleaning, to take a 28-second lead. Jacquelin after prone miss, blew through the standing targets to leave three seconds faster than Samuelsson, taking over second position with a 3.3 km loop to go. After a strong second loop, JT with a chance to seal the win picked up a penalty. Still, he flew around the penalty loop, leaving the stadium with a slim 2.2 second lead over the 10-for-10 Laegreid. Rees after a clean prone stage, continued to shoot well, doing the same in standing, moving into third.

Laegreid, ‘you cannot really count JT out of the top spot”

Laegreid admitted that his chances for the win were slim after JT had just a single penalty. “Johannes is always a joker so you cannot really count him out of the top spot. I had a small hope that he would shoot some mistakes in standing so I could claim my tenth World Cup victory, but you never really hope for your teammates to fail either. When he shot one mistake, I knew he would have the victory in his pocket, because he is so strong.”

“I did my best biathlon race”

Laegreid skied well on the last loop, staying ahead of his Swedish rival and the rest of the field. However, although it was not enough for the win, Laegreid felt he had given everything he had. “I was quite satisfied. I felt like I did my best biathlon race. I skied as fast as I could and shot as best as I could, so I really could not demand anything more from myself. When I crossed the finish line, I was extremely pleased with my race, no matter what the place.”

JT pulls away

Rees’ Second Career Podium

Likewise, Rees had a strong last loop, taking third place ahead of Samuelsson for the second podium of his career, but at the same time, found himself in a familiar situation in the last loop. “I am really happy today because it was like the same situation as four days ago when I went on the last loop and my coach told me I was two seconds ahead of Samuelsson again. I knew I had to give everything. I am excited to be on the podium for the second time in my life…Today was kind of a perfect race for me. I wanted to shoot clean and I managed that pretty well. I still felt kind of easy when I went out on the last loop; a really nice race with that great feeling.”

Photos: IBU/ Christian Manzoni, Hendrik Osula