Sweden’s Martin Ponsiluoma came to the last standing stage of this morning’s Milano Cortina 2026 Men’s 12.5 km Pursuit in second position, almost 40 seconds behind leader Emilien Jacquelin of France. Ponsiluoma, after seeing Jacquelin had two penalties, shot quickly and clean, moving into first, skiing to his first-ever Olympic medal in 31:11:19. After starting seventh, Ponsiluoma had his only penalty in the second prone stage. From that point, he cleaned both standing stages, setting up his stunning victory.

“Did everything I wanted”

Ponsiluoma’s victory today was just the third in his career, left him beaming, acknowledging the importance to the team. “I am super proud of the race today. I did everything I wanted today. I was skiing really fast, shooting fast; focusing was amazing. It was my day today…I hope (the win) brings a lot of energy into the team. We have good chances in the next races also…There’s a lot of people cheering for me all the time; I am super happy for the support I get.”

“Really afraid of the chasers”

The Gold medalist, aware of Jacquelin’s penalties. admitted some nerves after cleaning the last standing, “I tried to not look at his target, but I thought it was two misses, so I just tried to focus on myself and make a fast and clean series.” “There was a lot of emotion on the last loop. I was really afraid of the chasers. At the first immediate time, I heard I had the same time (as when he left the range) and knew I managed it…I was nervous, but on the last part of the loop, tried to enjoy it.”

Norway’s Sturla Holm Laegreid, with two penalties won the Silver medal, 20.6 seconds back, his third individual medal of these Games after Bronze in the 20 km Individual and 10 km Sprint. Jacquelin, after leading much of the competition had three penalties, but won the Bronze medal, 29.7 seconds back.

France’s Eric Perrot, ninth at the start, finished fourth, with one penalty, 30.5 seconds back. Sprint Silver medalist Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen, with three penalties, finished fifth, 44.8 seconds back while teammate Johannes Dale-Skjevdal finished sixth, 1:06.6 back.

Sunny Day

Sunshine returned for Pursuit Sunday after a snowy day on Saturday; the wind flags flapping a bit more than the previous days with a capacity crowd. Quentin Fillon Maillet led into the first prone, missing a shot as did Jacquelin and Christiansen. Jacquelin came off the loop first with the Sprint Gold medalist on his shoulder. Ponsiluoma moved to fourth after shooting clean.

Fast-shooting Jacquelin Takes lead

Jacquelin shot extremely fast in the second prone, cleaning easily; Fillon Maillet went to the penalty loop. Christiansen and Laegreid also were perfect, 12 and 23 seconds back, Ponsiluoma remained fourth, 37 seconds back.

The leader skied very aggressively into the first standing; he cleaned rapidly extending the lead to 24 seconds over the also-clean Ponsiluoma. Perrot went to 15-for-15, moving up to third. Laegreid and Christiansen, after a penalty, fell to fourth, 45 seconds back.

Ponsiluoma Cleans Last Standing for Gold

Jacquelin shot fast again in the last standing, but two penalties were his undoing as fatigue settled in. Ponsiluoma cleaned quickly taking a 14-second lead with Laegreid jumping to third. By 10.6 km, Laegreid moved ahead of Jacquelin. Ponsiluoma continued to pull away to the Gold medal; Laegreid held on to the Silver spot and Jacquelin, despite fading retained the Bronze medal after a valiant effort. Photos: IBU/Vianney Thibaut, Ola Wizor, Nordic Focus