Philipp Nawrath saved the German team from a bad result with a top 5 placement in the individual in Kontiolahti (Finland). At the top, Eric Perrot couldn’t even be defeated by the very strong Sturla Holm Laegreid on Friday (March 6th, 2026).
The Frenchman and the Norwegian shot and ran at an incredible level, both remained flawless over the 20 kilometers and were almost on equal terms for a long time. In the end, Perrot celebrated his third World Cup success in a row, Laegreid only remained second after narrowly missing out on victory several times at the Olympic Games with two silver and two bronze medals each.
In all intermediate times, the 29-year-old was initially just behind Perrot, but at the finish it was 29.9 seconds thanks to a strong last lap from the Frenchman. Behind them, Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen was unlucky that his perfect competition was overshadowed by the two best athletes of the day, the Norwegian came third, 47.9 seconds behind.
Frenchman Eric Perrot in Lahti
Nawrath is running into a top position
Nawrath made a total of two mistakes and was happy about one of the best results of the winter. The 33-year-old was 2:19.6 minutes behind the exceptional runner Perrot at the finish – and in addition to all the positive things, he mourned afterwards that it wasn’t a minute less. “It’s annoying that the last shot went wrong, so I focused again. But I had strong skis today, that was really cool.”said Nawrath, who had the second best running time, on ZDF.
Halfway through the race, Philipp Horn had given hope for only the third podium finish for the German team this season. The 31-year-old, who came third in the Hochfilzen sprint in December, shot clean twice, but then he missed two targets and the podium immediately moved out of sight. Horn made two mistakes again in the last shooting, so the bottom line was a disappointing 31st place (+5:12.2 minutes).
Pfund scores another strong ranking
Youngster Leonhard Pfund experienced the full rigors of professional business for the first time. After a 13th place in the shortened individual and 15th place in the subsequent mass start in Nove Mesto, the 22-year-old also started his third professional race with a faultless prone shooting – but he was given a pack while standing, and Pfund made three faults. It was clear that it would be a learning evening for him. Even though there were three penalty minutes, he ended up 28th (+5:06.6 minutes).
Things didn’t go too smoothly for the other DSV athletes either. After three penalty minutes, Lucas Fratzscher was still the second best German, but he only ended up in 26th place (+4:50.4). David Zobel (two errors) was 34th (+5:20.8).
