Sweden’s Sebastian Samuelsson was in the lead at the first split time in this afternoon’s Ruhpolding Men’s 10 km Sprint and went unchallenged to a clean-shooting 21:53.8 victory. Today’s win was the eighth in his career and his first-ever individual victory at the iconic Chiemgau Arena.

Swedish Sprint Sweep

The 28-year-old’s win gave Sweden a sweep of the Ruhpolding Sprints this season, following Hanna Oeberg’s win yesterday. He called it, “Very cool. Our coach is German, so it feels like a ‘heimat sieg.’ I am very happy with my performance today.”

“Very cool, eight victories”

Samuelsson’s win jumped to first on the list of Swedish male World Cup wins with eight putting him ahead of Olympic Gold medalist Bjorn Ferry. “I did not think about it, Of course, it’s very cool, eight victories. It is not that often that it happens so when it does, you have to celebrate and enjoy it. That I will do today.”

Italy’s Yellow-Bib wearing Tommaso Giacomel, with a single penalty in prone, skied back into contention, then cleaned standing rapidly to finish second, 17.6 seconds back. Giacomel retained control of the Yellow Bib, with Samuelsson moving into second.

Norway’s Isak Leknes Frey, after not finishing higher than 10th in the first trimester upped his season and personal best by shooting clean in third place for his first-ever World Cup podium, 34.1 seconds back. Frey’s previous best was fourth in last season’s Oslo Holmenkollen Sprint.

French teammates clean-shooting Quentin Fillon Maillet and Eric Perrot, with one penalty, finished fourth and fifth, 41.2 and 42.2 seconds back, respectively. Samuelsson’s teammate Martin Ponsiluoma, with one penalty finished sixth, 45.8 seconds back.

Frey Up Front

The men were treated to another windless day, emphasizing the importance of good shooting. Frey was hot from the start, taking the early lead with a perfect prone stage. Samuelsson, already in the lead as he came to prone, shot conservatively but clean, upping the 22-year-old Norwegian’s time by 16 seconds. The Yellow Bib skied fast into prone, but missed once, as did Perrot. Emilien Jacquelin challenged with a prone time just a second slower than Samuelsson.

Samuelsson Cleans Standing, Skis to Uncontested Victory

The budding Norwegian star blew through standing, taking a 10-second lead over the early starters until Samuelsson went 5-for-5, leaving Frey 23 seconds adrift. Giacomel made up a lot of time on the tracks, mowed down his standing targets with ease, moving into second, 14 seconds behind Samuelsson. Fillon Maillet, after a clean prone, did the same in standing, with the also perfect Perrot battling in this elite group.

Frey’s strong last loop again put him atop the leaderboard. Samuelsson skied a faster last loop, uncontested by his rivals crossing well ahead of Frey, sealing the win. Giacomel was unable to close the gap on his Swedish rival but retained second ahead of Frey.

Photos: IBU/Harald Deubert, Yevenko, Nordic Focus