JT Boe Rebounds; Skis to Soldier Hollow Pursuit Victory

Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Boe after racking up four penalties and 17th place in yesterday’s sprint rebounded spectacularly to win this afternoon’s Soldier Hollow Men’s 12.5 km Pursuit in 30:05. After the sprint shooting range disaster, JT hit 19-of-20 targets today, missing his only shot in the final standing stage, leaving in second 10 seconds behind Emilien Jacquelin, flying over the last 2.5 km for his eighth victory of the season.

“Became Batman this morning!”

The Yellow Bib admitted that his fourth pursuit win of the season was a crazy journey. “I think it was (that). Yesterday I was in vacation mode. It is frustrating that you need a bad experience to lift yourself, push yourself to the limits. I wish I could be up there all the time, but it’s hard. Yesterday was a tough day. I recovered a lot, did not speak so much, just went into my own cave and became Batman this morning!”

“Fabulous Skis”

As for the final loop that decided the victory, he added, “I had very good skis…Fabulous skis. After the second prone the next two loops were very easy, so I had lots of energy on the last one.”

Another Boedium

JT’s older brother Tarjei, with two penalties ensured another 1-2 Boedium sprinting past France’s Jacquelin for second place, 6.4 seconds back. Jacquelin after getting his first podium of the season in the sprint, added a second one to his resume in third place, 7.1 seconds back with three penalties.

The Boe brother’s teammate Sturla Holm Laegreid and Sweden’s Sebastain Samuelsson finished in the same places as in the sprint, fourth and fifth, with two and three penalties, 7.7 and 40.5 seconds back, respectively. Italy’s Tommaso Giacomel, with three penalties finished sixth, 48.8 seconds back.

BMW IBU World Cup 8 Soldier Hollow Men's 12.5 km Pursuit

T-shirt Weather

The spring sunshine popped the temperature to 10 degrees, with several starters sporting t-shirts for the final Soldier Hollow competition. Eric Perrot and Jacquelin set the pace into the first prone. Jacquelin cleaned with ease, with Laegreid and Samuelsson 17 seconds back. Jacquelin pushed the pace into the second prone, increasing his margin to almost 30 seconds, shooting extremely fast and clean. Laegreid matched, moving to second with JT Boe up to fourth from 17th at the start.

Jacquelin Falls Back

Jacquelin shot fast in the first standing stage, missing three shots. Laegreid also picked up a penalty, while JT cleaned going out 2 seconds behind Laegreid with Jacquelin only ten seconds from the top spot after flying around the penalty loop.

Final standing, last loop

JT allowed his teammate to set the pace until just before the final standing stage. Both missed a single shot; the clean-shooting Jacquelin regained the lead. JT, Laegreid and Tarjei followed 10, 13, and 17 seconds back.

JT closed the gap, attacking and taking the lead at the 11.1 km split. Tarjei passed Jacquelin, sprinting to second in the last 100 meters, with Jacquelin hanging on for third.

Photos: IBU/Christian Manzoni

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