A day after saying that he would give “my best to make him proud; I think that is what he wanted,” an inspired Tommaso Giacomel of Italy saluted his fallen friend Sivert Guttorm Bakken with a victory in today’s Oberhof Men’s 10 km Sprint. Giacomel, after missing a prone shot, cleaned standing quickly, taking the lead, going unopposed to a 25:01.7 victory.

“Saddest and best day”

Giacomel, clearly shaken and overwhelmed with emotions, deliberately expressed his feelings after his third victory of the season. “It is one of the most controversial days in my life, I think. It’s at the same time one of the saddest and the best day on the sports side. A lot of mixed feelings but I think Sivert would be really proud of me today.”

“That gave me something more”

The 25-year-old kept his friend in mind all day but especially on the last loop, after finishing embracing Bakken’s friend and teammate Johannes Dale-Skjevdal. “Before the race started, for sure. After that, I just tried to come into the race groove and did not think too much about that. On the last loop, the coaches told me, ‘you are doing that for yourself but also for him.’ I think that gave me something more.”

Germany’s Philipp Nawrath, also with one penalty, finished second, 13.2 seconds back, equaling the second-best result of his career and his best result in more than a year. Norway’s Johannes Dale-Skjevdal, with one penalty, finished third. 25.2 seconds back.

Sweden’s Sebastian Samuelsson, after struggling with shaking legs on his final standing shot that he missed, streaked around the last loop, finishing fourth, 31.2 seconds back. Dale-Skjevdal’s teammate Martin Uldal, with one penalty finished fifth, 31.4 seconds back, while France’s Eric Perrot, with two standing misses, finished sixth, 32.5 seconds back.

Celebrating Sivert Guttorm Bakken

The first competition of 2026 opened on a somber note with a minute of remembrance and a ceremonial blank number one start celebrating Bakken who died unexpectedly over the Christmas break. Unsurprisingly, the first sprint of the first trimester faced typical Oberhof conditions, fog, wind ant the temperature hovering around freezing.

Even with the fog, there was plenty of clean prone shooting led by USA’s Campbell Wright. Giacomel’s one penalty put him 16 seconds behind Wright, with the eighth fastest time.

Nawrath after a perfect prone stage, missed a shot in standing but took the initial lead. Dale-Skjevdal also missed, 30 seconds back in seventh. Giacomel. after the missed prone shot, rebounded with a spectacular fast loop, cleaning standing, and moving atop the leaderboard.

Unstoppable Giacomel

Nawrath continued his excellent day, delighting the crowd with the initial best time at the finish. With 800 meters to go, Giacomel was a dozen seconds up on the German heading to victory. Dale-Skjevdal pushed the last 100 meters, crossing behind the local hero. Giacomel was unstoppable, flying down the foggy finish straight raising his hand high in victory, saluting his lost friend Bakken.

Photos: IBU/Heilwagen, Nordic Focus