Fillon Maillet in history wins the Pursuit in Kontiolahti, Hofer finally podium!

The Pursuit Olympic champion joins Martin Fourcade with his sixth consecutive win in the race format.

Sunday 6 March 2022 4 minutes reading time

Quentin Fillon Maillet concedes nothing at the start and appears confident at the first shooting range in Kontiolahti: the Olympic champion makes no mistake, mistakes are few in this first session, and at the exit he maintains an 18-second advantage over his compatriot Jacquelin, 23 over Felip Fjeld Andersen , 30 on Kuehn and Hofer. Lesser is at 40 seconds while the German Nawrath pays a round of penalty at about fifty seconds with Ponsiluoma and Samuelsson. A mistake for Bormolini who finds himself in twenty-first position at 1.12.9 The leader's pace is not irresistible and allows Jacquelin to recover seconds while Hofer gets back to Andersen and Kuehn; Fillon Maillet is also perfect in the second series on the ground and maintains a 7-second advantage over Jacquelin. The three pursuers make a mistake, in third position at 43 seconds Lesser finds himself just ahead of Christiansen and Leitner. Hofer is about fifty seconds after the penalty lap. Bormolini is not wrong, he is sixteenth at 1.16.9. In the third lap Jacquelin is back on Fillon Maillet while behind there are seven athletes in the space of about ten seconds just under a minute from the French couple. At the first shooting range, Jacquelin tries to set up a speed challenge but fails once while Fillon Maillet is relentless. Hofer and Christiansen make no mistake in the challenge for third place, finding themselves 51 seconds behind with Lesser 7 seconds behind. Fillon Maillet misses the twentieth target, the last of his race, but the error is irrelevant and can fly towards history. Jacquelin is also wrong, who finds himself at 26 seconds while Hofer, Christiansen and Lesser go for 5/5. In the last lap Lukas goes to the attack and catches up with Jacquelin but takes Christiansen and Lesser with him. It is the German who attacks on the climb and Lukas manages to stay on his tail while the others yield. Quentin Fillon Maillet (0-0-0-1) wins with 8.2 on Erik Lesser (0-0-0-0) while Lukas Hofer (0-1-0-0) only surrenders in the last meters of the sprint and is third, finally on the podium, at 8.8. Fourth place for Jacquelin (0-0-1-1) at 22.6, fifth Christiansen (0-0-0-0) at 31.9.

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