Norway’s Sturla Holm Laegreid and Yellow/Red Bib Eric Perrot came to the last standing stage of this evening’s Kontiolahti Men’s 15 km Mass Start side-by-side. Perrot shot faster but missed a target, while his Norwegian rival cleaned keying the victory in 34:39.7. Last year’s World Cup Total Score titlist Laegreid’s first win of the season extended his podium streak starting back at the Milano Cortina OWG to eight.

Rematch with Perrot, “It was a nice duel”

Laegreid, with his clean shooting today, had what he considered another perfect race, yet this time he flipped the cards on Perrot, winning instead of finishing second. “I did the perfect race on Friday and Eric Beat me. So today I had to do a rematch. It was a nice duel with him and luckily, I was on the top at last.”

“Focus, focus, hit the last one”

The eventual winner was totally focused in the deciding last standing was super focused once he knew Perrot had a penalty. “I felt going into the last shooting that Eric was really attacking. I expected him to be fast for the shooting. My only focus was to just hit all the targets. When I was going into the last target I saw there was one black left in his and he was going out. I just thought, ‘focus, focus, hit the last one and be done with it,’ and I managed.”

France’s Perrot had just that single last-stage penalty, finishing second, 16.5 seconds back. Laegreid’s teammate Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen, with one penalty finished third, 26.1 seconds back.

Norway dominated the day, getting four in the top six, with Johan-Olav Smoerdal Botn, in fourth with two penalties, 28.4 seconds back and Martin Uldal, with one penalty sixth, 36.4 seconds back. Sweden’s Martin Ponsiluoma broke up the two Norwegians in fifth place, also with two penalties, 32 seconds back.

Under the Lights

The final competition in Kontiolahti kicked off under the lights, as darkness settled in on the deep pine-forested venue. Christiansen and Uldal led the field out of the first prone, twenty clean shooters trailed, all within 12 seconds. Emilien Jacquelin grabbed the lead going into the second prone, shot rapidly and clean, taking a 7.5 -second lead over Perrot and Fabien Claude, Laegreid and Christiansen followed a step behind.

Perrot and Laegreid Duel

Perrot, Laegreid and Claude cleaned the first standing, going out tightly bunched after Jacquelin missed two shots. Laegreid and Perrot dueled side-by-side at the final standing stage. The Norwegian cleaned just after Perrot picked up the penalty that ceded the lead and victory to Laegreid. Christiansen’s clean stage bumped him up to third but 26 seconds back, nine behind Perrot, setting the podium.

Photos: IBU/Christian Manzoni, Yevenko, Nordic Focus