France’s Eric Perrot shot clean in the first prone stage with the second-best time, then closed the next fifteen targets for a perfect day at the range, never leaving the top spot and cruising to a 36:30.6 win in this evening’s Nove Mesto Men’s 15 km Short Individual. Tonight’s victory gave last year’s IBU 20 m Individual World Champion a victory in every World Cup individual discipline: sprint, pursuit, individual, short individual and mass start.

Shooting 20-for-20, “a great feeling”

Perrot was more than pleased with his shooting, especially after struggling a bit last week in Ruhpolding. “It was good; really good to shoot 20-of-20, that was a great feeling. I was focusing a lot on my shooting after 2 races last week with middle shooting. It felt really good to be back again with clean shooting.”

“A little more to push if I needed it”

The winner’s skiing was as perfect as his shooting. “I could enjoy a little bit on the skis and be focusing more on the shooting range. I had a little more under my foot to push more if I needed to. It felt really good to come in the last round to have enough gap to enjoy the last loop.”

Perrot’s teammate Emilien Jacquelin shot clean, finishing second with his first-ever World Cup podium in an individual, 41.8 seconds back. Italy’s Lukas Hofer also with a perfect day on the range, finished third for his first podium since finishing third in the Kontiolahti Pursuit in March 2022. Ironically, Hofer’s last clean shooting in a four-stage competition was also in Nove Mesto, when he finished 9th in the 2024 IBU WCH Pursuit.

France's Oscar Lombardot finished in a career-best fourth place, with one penalty, 1:46.2 back. Norway’s Martin Nevland shot clean in a career-best fifth place, 1:57.9 back. Emilien Claude, with two penalties gave France four in the top six, with his season-best 6th place, 2:04 back.

Nighttime Competition

The first real nighttime competition of the season served up a cold, minus six, and moderate winds for the 99-man field. Yellow Bib Giacomel shot aggressively and clean in the first prone, for the top spot. Jacquelin and Perrot matched, with Perrot two seconds behind the Italian.

Hofer went to 10-for-10 in the first standing, taking the lead. The Yellow Bib’s penalty and three in the last standing ended his podium bid. Jacquelin cleaned for the third time, as did Perrot who took over the lead. The Italian went to 15-for-15 in the second prone stage. Jacquelin’s 5-for-5 gave him a slim .8 second gap until Perrot did the same, 27 seconds faster.

Clean Last Standing Sets Podium

All three cleaned the last standing stage, with Perrot padding his lead to 42 seconds, locking up the victory. That set the podium with a French 1-2 and 36-year-old Hofer third.

Photos: IBU/Jaroslav Svoboda,Yevenko, Nordic Focus