Norway’s Sturla Holm Laegreid, starting 68th at the end of the red group, cleaned his prone stage for the lead, then leaving standing less than three seconds behind France’s Emilien Jacquelin, and sprinted around the last loop for a perfectly executed Otepää Men’s 10 km Sprint win in 23:28.5. The clean-shooting victory this afternoon at Tehvandi Ski Stadium followed just 4 days after last year’s World Cup Total Score winner claimed his first victory of the season, also shooting clean in Sunday’s Kontiolahti Mass Start. The win extends Laegreid’s consecutive podium streak to nine, since the beginning of the Milan/Cortina OWG.

“Overview and control”

Laegreid felt he was in control throughout the competition. “I did not feel like I was skiing that fast. I just tried to have an even pace, spread out my energy over the 10 kilometers. I started last in the red group. That gave me a lot of overview and control. It was quite a comfortable race. It was tough for sure. I knew what Emilien and Quentin had done before me. It was just to ski a little bit faster.”

“I knew what pace he (Emilien) had”

The Norwegian knew how fast he needed to go in the last loop after skiing behind Jacquelin earlier. “On my second loop, I was skiing with Emilien on his third loop, so I knew what pace he had. I knew if I skied the same as in the last loop, I knew it would be okay. When I heard the coaches say I gained more and more seconds, it just gave me more motivation.”

Jacquelin, shooting fast and clean, looked like the winner until Laegreid put in his powerful last loop, leaving the French star, 10.7 seconds back in second place. Germany’s Philipp Nawrath shot clean in a season-best third place, 17.8 seconds back his first individual podium since finishing third in the December 2024 Kontiolahti Sprint.

Laegreid’s teammate Isak Leknes Frey shot clean in fourth, 30.3 seconds back, just edging the also perfect Olympic Sprint Gold medalist Quentin Fillon Maillet by .3 seconds. Norway added a third athlete in the top six with Johan-Olav Smoerdal Botn in sixth, with one penalty, 42.4 seconds back.

Jacquelin Leads Early

The 107-man field had a warm, cloudy 10 degree day with the typical light breeze on the range. There was plenty of clean prone shooting from the outset, with Frey, Botn, and Fillon Maillet leading the way. Yet, Jacquelin was the fastest of all, going 8 seconds up on the field, with Nawrath less than second behind until Laegreid cleaned fastest of all.

Laegreid skis to Victory

Jacquelin’s brilliantly fast clean stage gave him the lead, with Nawrath’s slow but clean stage, 17 seconds back. Laegreid went to 10-for-10, but 2.8 seconds behind Jacquelin.

Laegreid rebounded with a spectacular last loop, passing Jacquelin early. With 600 meters to go, Laegreid was up by 11 seconds with victory assured.

Photos: IBU/Dmytro Yevenko, Nordic Focus