Wire-to-wire Kontiolahti Pursuit win for JT Boe

Not even three penalties could stop Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Boe in this morning’s Kontiolahti men’s 12.5 km pursuit where he went wire-to-wire for his second victory of the season. JT’s time of 32:44.4 was 19.2 seconds faster than teammate Sturla Holm Laegreid, with two penalties in second place. France’s Emilien Jacquelin, also with two penalties picked up his firs podium of the season in third place, 47.3 seconds back.

Last standing: “It was hard”

After his first sprint/pursuit double of the season, the winner expounded on his day at the shooting range. “The first clean shooting was perfect. The second one I took a little bit more time and still managed to shoot clean. Then the race in the snow started to get harder. I tried to find the right speed onto the shooting range. But in the final shooting, I lost one bullet up, so it was hard in the end.”

“Could have done it differently”

Leaving the penalty loop with the lead, he quickly was less concerned about the misses. “You try to have eyes in your neck to see the others but I heard they were also missing so it was just to push. It is not the best way to end the race. I need to be better for the next pursuit. You don’t want to miss two times in a row and win. Today I am happy with the victory but I could have done it differently.

Sebastian Samuelsson of Sweden finished fourth for the second consecutive day, 1:12.7 back. Germany’s Roman Rees finished fifth, 1:20.7 back, while Samuelsson’s teammate Jesper Nelin finished sixth, 1:32 back. All three men had three penalties.

Crossing in Yellow

JT was extremely pleased with his second win and retaining the Yellow Bib. “I am really happy, crossing the line with bib 1 and in Yellow as well is a childhood dream for everyone. I need to enjoy the day and the feelings around it, because it does not happen too often.”

Perfect Prone Stages

The first pursuit of the season saw JT Boe back in the Yellow Bib for the first time this season. With light snow falling and the temperature at -5C, he led the first loop, shot carefully and clean in the first prone. Laegreid did the same as did Samuelsson and the next nine men. After the first prone, JT had almost 20 seconds over his teammate and Laegreid another thirty seconds to the next three. Despite a moderate right to left breeze, nothing changed for the leaders as Boe, Laegreid, Samuelsson and Jacquelin all cautiously cleaned the second prone stage.

BMW IBU World Cup 1 Kontiolahti Men's Pursuit

Jacquelin, “shoot in a good way”

Jacquelin was pleased about how he approached shooting today. “I think I was in a good way to shoot well; not confident to be able to shoot fast and attack. For me confidence is just about if I work well, the work will be good. That is how I try to manage it now. The more I race, the more I feel good about my work.”

The gaps remained virtually unchanged but Rees fell back to fifth after a single penalty.

JT, “I only attack”

Laegreid and the next two chasers lost a few seconds on the loop coming into the first standing stage as JT visibly pushed the pace as the snow increased. The Yellow Bib split the bullet on the fourth shot and the target failed to close. Explaining his aggressiveness, “I am in a good mood now. I do not need to defend some things, I only attack both in the track and the shooting range…I feel confident.”

The same thing happened on Laegreid’s fifth shot, pushing him to 27 seconds back. Jacquelin cleaned very fast to leave 10 seconds behind Laegreid while Samuelsson, with penalty remained in fourth position.

JT was in control on the loop into the last standing. By the top of the Wall, Jacquelin was less than three seconds behind Laegreid. The leader’s first shot was far from the target as was the fifth; Laegreid responded with a single miss, but remained 12.3 seconds back.

“One mistake…victory was gone”

Laegreid knew he had only one chance after fighting with Jacquelin into the last stage. “I had a small chance in the end to take the victory but one mistake put me out of that fight. On the fourth loop going into the last shooting, I had Emilien coming closer and closer. I did not want to tow him up to a winning position because Johannes is my teammate. So, if I am not winning, I hope he wins. That was my tactic to not give it to Emilien too easy. I had to push a bit into the range to keep my gap…I had to be efficient but not take too much risk…When I had the mistake, I knew the victory was gone.”