15:14
Fillon Maillet wins, Lesser second!
Quentin Fillon Maillet can be celebrated at the finish, while the fight for second place ensues behind him. Who is ahead? Lesser and Hofer! It’s Eric Lesser! What a finish of German. Jacquelin is fourth ahead of Christiansen.
15:12
Lesser is hot for second place!
What a start from Erik Lesser! He works his way through the group and now also passes Lukas Hofer to set him apart from the other athletes in the group. The podium is less sure!
15:12
It’s Lesser’s turn!
Class! Erik Lesser made it to the group and now the veteran has another chance to secure the podium in one of his last World Cups!
15:10
caught up with Jacquelin
Quentin Fillon Maillet is in the lead, but behind him it remains exciting for the remaining places on the podium. Hofer and Christiansen have caught up with Jacquelin. Erik Lesser is four seconds behind this group. Can he still do that?
15:09
last shooting
Roman Rees, who will start the final kilometers in ninth place, can continue to work his way up. Benedikt Doll is 13th after one mistake, Kühn has two mistakes in the final shooting.
15:08
last shooting
Jacquelin goes into the last lap in second place and he’s going to have to fight again as his closest pursuer is Lukas Hofer, just seven seconds behind him. Christiansen and Lesser also smash all windows again!
15:06
last shooting
Quentin Fillon Maillet comes into the final standing stage with a brilliant starting position. If he doesn’t afford a complete retirement now, then nobody should be able to take the victory away from him today. The first shot hits the mark and the mistake only occurs with the last shot. He has to go into the penalty loop, but still has the best chance of winning, especially since the first pursuer also makes a mistake.
15:05
Jacqueline fights
Emilien Jacquelin seems to have overstretched himself on his first laps and that is now being punished. On the climb he can barely make any headway and has already been 27 seconds behind.
15:04
Fillon Maillet keeps the lead
Fillon Maillet maintains his lead over Jacquelin at just over 19 seconds. So things are looking good for him towards victory. Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen is 46 seconds back with Hofer close behind. For Lesser there is a gap of 53 seconds.
15:03
3. Shoot
Things aren’t going according to plan for Philipp Nawrath at the shooting range today. With four penalties in the three shooting stages, he is in 24th place. Felix Leitner, who was still in a good place before the third shooting stage, also went down. With two penalties in standing, he is now 16th.
15:02
3. Shoot
What’s happening behind? Lukas Hofer, Christiansen and Lesser remain flawless and have every chance towards the podium. Simon Eder from Austria and Sebstian Stalder from the Swiss team also remain flawless. For Johannes Kühn, on the other hand, it meant taking a turn and getting back into ninth place.
15:00
3. Shoot
The duo goes to the third shooting together. Now the targets have to be hit in the standing position. Quentin Fillon Maillet manages it with five goals, Emilien Jacquelin shoots quickly but has to accept the penalty loop. He is now 19.3 seconds behind his own team competitor.
14:58
Kühn in Lesser group
Johannes Kühn has meanwhile worked his way into Erik Lesser’s group. This is currently led by Christiansen.
14:56
It’s Jacquelin’s turn
Emilien Jacquelin accelerated again on the track and closed the gap to his teammate. 41 seconds behind, Erik Lesser is leading a small group.
14:55
2. Shoot
Sebastian Stalder also hits the five targets twice and returns to the track in a solid eleventh place.
14:55
2. Shoot
The mistakes are coming behind them, but not for Erik Lesser! He can now work his way up the field with five more goals and is back on the track in third place. Behind Christiansen, who came from 24th place. Leitner is also fifth with ten goals in two stages. Johannes Kühn is back in seventh place with one mistake. There were two mistakes for Nawrath.
14:53
2. Shoot
Quentin Fillon Maillet is back on the range and also completes his second prone stage with no wobble. And what is Jacquelin doing? He turns it up too! He’s going really fast, throwing shots and reducing his gap to 7.2 seconds.
14:51
Jacquelin is pushing
Emilien Jacquelin is now pushing hard on the loop and was able to reduce his deficit to 12.3 seconds just before the second standing stage. Of the two Frenchmen, Quentin Fillon Maillet is more confident at the shooting range.
14:50
Bold together with Andersen
Johannes Kühn has already regained some time and is now running together with the Norwegian Andersen. They are 22.2 seconds behind Fillon Maillet. Lesser is 37 seconds behind.
14:48
1. Shoot
The first shooting also went well for Sebastian Stalder. With a clean shooting, he moves up from 15th place at the start to 11th place. Behind him follows Felix Leitner from the ÖSV team. Eder, however, had to accept the first mistake.
14:47
1. Shoot
Quentin Fillon Maillet comes to the first stage and in prone the Frenchman has no trouble and all the rounds are black. He’s back out on the track as the leader. Behind, Jacquelin scores quickly and is new second, 18.3 seconds back. Andersen follows on vacant place. Johannes Kühn and Erik Lesser also made it through without any mistakes and took fourth and sixth place. Nawrath is seventh with one penalty.
14:45
Lesser makes up places
Erik Lesser has already caught up a few places. The veteran from the German team finds himself in tenth place in a group with Eder and Guigonnat.
14:43
group around Kühn
A small group has formed around Johannes Kühn on the first kilometer. Bakken, Samuelsson and Philipp Nawrath as the second German and Jacquelin are here.
14:41
More and more along the way
The track begins to fill up more and more and the starters gradually go on the 12.5 kilometers.
14:40
Here we go!
The race is on and with Quentin Fillon Maillet is the winner of the sprint on the track. After 18 seconds he will be followed by Filip Fjeld Andersen from the Norwegian team. Johannes Kühn has to wait 30 seconds before he can go out on the track.
14:34
What’s in it for Stalder?
Sebastian Stalder was able to take a big step forward, especially in the second half of the season, and also got a good result in the sprint. The Swiss starts today in 15th place, 54 seconds behind. The top ten is definitely possible. Martin Jäger (28) is 1:21 minutes behind. Joscha Burkhalter will start almost two minutes behind.
14:30
Eder and Leitner lead the ÖSV team
The Austrian team is once again leading by Simon Eder and Felix Leitner. Simon Eder will be 45 seconds behind in the pursuit, while Felix Leitner in 14th place in the sprint has 53 seconds to catch up. David Komatz (30) is already 1:21 minutes behind. With Harald Lemmerer (48) it is even more than two minutes.
14:26
Kühn lurks in third place
Johannes Kühn is also in a good starting position. The German finished third in the sprint, leaving the Frenchman 30 seconds behind. Philipp Nawrath is only five seconds behind and could also move up a lot with that. Erik Lesser (12) will start 50 seconds behind. Roman Rees (20th), Benedikt Doll (25th) and David Zobel (32nd) were already more than a minute behind.
14:14
Quentin Fillon Maillet the Hunted
After the sprint, Quentin Fillon Maillet from France starts the race with the best starting position. Fillot Maillet, who has won all pursuers in the World Cup since Hochfilzen, will start the 12.5 kilometers 18 seconds ahead of the young Norwegian Filip Fjeld Andersen.
14:11
Welcome!
Hello and welcome to the Biathlon Men’s Pursuit in Kontiolahti, Finland. The starting gun is fired at 2:40 p.m.