Oberhof being Oberhof. On top of the usual fog seen on Thursday, today’s race was hit by strong, gusty winds, making shooting extremely difficult. For many athletes, four or five penalty loops turned out to be a fairly normal outcome.
It is hard to say whether Tommaso Giacomel truly believed in victory before the final shooting. Running in sixth place with six penalty loops already behind him, the Italian was probably hoping more than calculating.
At the decisive moment, Giacomel delivered a perfect 5 out of 5. While his rivals were sent back onto the penalty loop, he took the lead once again and this time never let it go.
Martin Uldal had a great opportunity to claim his first World Cup victory. However, three missed targets on the final shooting meant the Norwegian had to give everything on the last lap just to try to catch Giacomel, while also holding off a charging Sebastian Samuelsson. Another second place for Uldal.
Sebastian Samuelsson finished third. His fourth starting position can be misleading: the Swede also accumulated plenty of penalty loops, just like Giacomel. A much stronger final lap allowed him to fight his way past Dmytro Pidruchnyi, Quentin Fillon Maillet and Johannes Dale, leaving all three outside the medals.
Pidruchnyi himself produced an impressive race. Few would have predicted that the Ukrainian could climb from 41st all the way up to seventh, even fighting for a podium place on the final lap.
Overall, the top six athletes were separated by just 14 seconds. Philipp Navrat, who dropped from second to 14th, lost only 45 seconds — an incredible level of closeness, especially in such difficult conditions.
The snow conditions were also reflected in the winning time. Normally, a pursuit victory in Oberhof takes around 33:00 to 33:40. Today, Giacomel finished almost four minutes slower than any winner over the past five years.
