All three athletes on today’s podium shot cleanly at the range. Eric Perrot was the fastest of the trio, finishing 40 and 50 seconds ahead of Emilien Jacquelin and Lukas Hofer. The 36-year-old Italian showed once again that he still has plenty to give.
With the core of the Norwegian team skipping this stage, the athletes stepping up from the IBU Cup delivered solid performances, but none of them were realistically able to fight for the medals.
Martin Nevland finished fifth, shooting four times clean but losing two minutes to the winner. Sverre Aspenes, with two misses, crossed the line two and a half minutes behind.
Johan Olav Botn appears to have lost his momentum in the battle for the Overall World Cup. His current form is clearly below his best.
Tommaso Giacomel could have challenged not only for the win but certainly for second place. However, the Italian missed three targets on the final shooting and, with four misses overall, finished only tenth.
Career-best results were achieved by Renars Birkentals, as well as by absolute World Cup debutant Leonard Pfund of Germany.
Sebastian Samuelsson, on the other hand, had a disastrous race. Eight misses in the individual is not the worst shooting performance ever seen, but it left the Swede outside the points.
