Philipp Nawrath of Germany, starting from the sixth position, 51 seconds behind claimed the win in the men’s 12.5 km pursuit in Brezno-Osrblie. With one penalty from the final standing, Nawrath finished in 32:15.3. In the women’s 10 km pursuit Vanessa Voigt of Germany took her second consecutive win with one penalty in 27.57.5.

Men's pursuit

Also with one penalty, Nawrath's teammate Justus Strelow finished second, 14.8 seconds back. Clean-shooting Sivert Guttorm Bakken of Norway, starting from 11th position, finished third, 26.6 seconds behind.

Norway with Aleksander Fjeld Andersen with two penalties, Filip Fjeld Andersen with three penalties and Erlend Bjoentegaard with four penalties finished fourth, fifth and sixth places, 27.2 seconds, 1:16.4, and 1:18 back respectively.

Andersen’s unluckiness played in Nawrath’s favour

51 seconds behind Bogetveit at the start, the fast-skiing Nawrath arrived to the first prone fourth, 41.6 seconds behind Bogetveit. When Bogetveit earned two penalties, the floor was open for the others to take matters to their hands. While Bogetveit was busy with penalty loops, Strelow left the range as the leader, 15.8 seconds ahead A. F. Andersen. Despite shooting clean, Nawrath left in fourth.

Luckily for the German, the skis played in his favour helping him to take back seconds. Third before the second prone, 5.9 seconds behind Strelow, Nawrath cleaned and moved up one more place by the end of the second prone. Missing one target, Strelow lost the lead to the clean-shooting Andersen who left the range only 3 seconds ahead Nawrath.

With all three men cleaning the first standing, the top three remained unchanged until the very last shooting. The moment of truth came in the second standing where the leading Andersen picked up two penalties; Nawrath earned one. While they were on the penalty loops Strelow managed to shoot clean, but nevertheless took the second place behind Nawrath. With only 0.1 seconds separating the two, it was clear that the win will go to Germany, but uncertainty laid in to whom. Showing the second-fastest ski time of the day, Nawrath widened the gap with Strelow to 14.8 seconds by the end of the competition claiming a confident win.

Clean shooting Bakken

With the two first places decided, the fight was still ongoing for the last podium spot. With Andersen, Nawrath and Strelow holding the top 3 places until the final shooting bout, it seemed impossible that Bakken would have enough time to catch up with the trio. Starting from 11th, more than a minute after Bogetveit, the Norwegian still proved that everything is possible in pursuit. Ninth after the first prone, fifth after second and third shooting, Bakken saw the opportunity to climb even higher when A. F. Andersen was forced to face the penalty loops in the final standing. Entering the final shooting still as fifth, 43.3 seconds behind Andersen, but closing all 20 targets, Bakken left the final shooting as third – position that he kept until the very end.

Women’s competition

Behind Voigt, the two other podium places went to Russia's Anastasiia Goreeva, with two penalties in second and teammate Anastasiia Egorova, also with two penalties in third place, 30.8 and 46.9 seconds back.

Juliane Fruehwirt of Germany, with one penalty finished fourth, 56.7 seconds back. Lou Jeanmonnot of France missed once to finish fifth, 1:00.3 back. Despite five penalties, Norway's Ragnhild Femsteinik finished sixth, 1:00.8 back.

“I am very proud”

For the very first time in her career, Voigt entered the pursuit as the leader. Nervous as she was, she managed to pull off a great performance resulting in another first place for the German. After one penalty in the first prone, Voigt left the shooting range in fourth, 37.9 seconds behind clean-shooting Anna Weidel. As Weidel continued her perfect performance also in the second prone keeping the lead, Voigt, although shooting clean, was even further behind Weidel. With 42.3 seconds separating the two, Weidel enjoyed a comfortable lead; that is until the first standing stage. Still almost 40 seconds behind Weidel before that stage, Voigt knew that she had to act fast. With Voigt and Egorova cleaning and Weidel earning two penalties, the cards were shuffled in Egorova's favour. Voigt moved to second, five seconds behind the Russian, Weidel third 9.8 seconds back.

Yet again it was the final standing stage that decided the fate of the winner. While Egorova and Weidel earned two penalties each, Voigt cleaned and went to the final loop with a 28.7-second lead. Keeping up the good work, the German managed to hold on to first place for her second consecutive win leaving Egorova with the third place today.

Weidel drops out, Goreeva second

Although enjoying a huge 42.3 second lead after the second prone, things suddenly changed for Weidel in the first standing bout. Missing two targets meant two penalty loops that allowed her closest competitors to pass her with Egorova in the lead. But the hope for the podium was still not gone as Weidel entered the last shooting on the third place. Earning yet another two penalties, the game for the podium was over for the German giving the possibility for the second and third place to the Russian duo Goreeva and Egorova who left the final shooting bout 28.7 seconds and 41.4 seconds back respectively. Exactly in this order the duo claimed the second and third place leaving Weidel with the fourth place.

Photos: IBU/ Igor Stancik