Pure surprise: new faces at the top of biathlon

In a completely strange sprint race in Soldier Hollow (USA), Eric Perrot surprisingly won his first World Cup victory. While Emilien Jaquelin celebrated a French double victory with his compatriot, a newcomer just as surprisingly took third place.

March 10, 2024

From: do

The biathlon day in Soldier Hollow came to an end on Saturday evening with the men's sprint under blazing sunshine. Johannes Thingnes Bø, Lukas Hofer and Co. had to cover 10 kilometers in the US state of Utah, shooting twice. The favorites were undoubtedly the Norwegians led by the Bø brothers, but things were to turn out differently. After some major misfires from the usual suspects, Eric Perrot ultimately won the sprint. Emilien Jaquelin guaranteed the French double victory in second place, while the Norwegian surprise man Johan-Olav Botn, who otherwise dominates the second-tier IBU Cup, held the Norwegian flag high.

That was good for French biathlon hearts: a youngster named Eric Perrot, completely unexpectedly, stood on the top step of the podium on Saturday. Before this weekend he had never won a race and had never even been on the podium. But the Frenchman knew how to best take advantage of the weakening favorites, delivered zero twice at the shooting range and hoisted himself over the finish line with all his strength – best time! With his dedicated running performance, he managed to displace his compatriot Emilien Jaquelin from the place in the sun, who gave France a double victory with two penalties, just 2 seconds behind Perrot.

Emilien Jaquelin came second. © AFP / CHRISTOF STACHE

The next surprise came from Johan-Olav Botn (+11,3 seconds), who completely unexpectedly ran onto the podium and pushed his Norwegian compatriot Sturla Holm Lægreid (+12,9 seconds) out of third place. The 3-year-old with start number 24 achieved his first top-three placement in his third World Cup race. Quentin Fillon Maillet's race was also curious, as he crossed the line with the best time by far, had he not forgotten to run a penalty lap and automatically had 98 minutes added to the race.

Bø one of the beaten ones

Johannes Thingnes Bø was weak again. After the Norwegian failed to reach the podium in either the mass start or the individual at his home race, the otherwise dominant 30-year-old once again struggled, especially with the weapon in his hand. Bø started the race with start number 6 and promptly fired two shots next to the target while lying down. Nevertheless, the Scandinavian stayed in the race with his lightning-fast running performance, but the Olympic champion also struggled with his accuracy in the second shooting - he received two more penalty laps on top of that. The result was 16th place and a gap of 58,1 seconds.

Johannes Thingnes Bø struggled with his performance at the shooting range. © APA/afp / MARCO BERTORELLO

Similar to the Norwegian, Lukas Hofer failed at the shooting range and shot twice and then missed again. This meant that the Pusterer's hopes of a top position were gone - and his good running performance didn't help him either. He ended up in 1.05,7nd place, 22:8 minutes behind. Tommaso Giacomel did better, missing only two of his goals and thus ended up in 30,8th place (+10 seconds) compared to the world leaders and a top 28 Celebrated the result. Didier Bionaz crossed the finish line in 1.30,6th place (+18.50:35 minutes), while Patrick Braunhofer will also be taking part in tomorrow's pursuit (1.40,9:XNUMX p.m. CET). He finished XNUMXth (+XNUMX:XNUMX minutes).