Biathlon: Samuelsson wins the pursuit in Östersund, Fillon Maillet 9th

The Swede Sebastian Samuelsson, one of the main contenders for the big crystal globe, won the pursuit on Sunday, conclusion of the first stage of the Biathlon World Cup in Östersund (Sweden), in which Quentin Fillon Maillet was ranked 9th and Johannes Boe only 15th. Starting in fourth position, 27 seconds behind Philipp Nawrath, victorious in the sprint the day before, Samuelsson showed his speed on skis to win five seconds ahead of the German, despite a 17/20 shooting. Nawrath only missed two targets.

Quentin Fillon Maillet, 16th in the sprint on Saturday almost 1 min 20 sec behind Nawrath, obtained his first top 10 of the season, ninth thanks to a 19/20 behind the rifle, at 49 sec 5/10. It's better than Boe, who only moved up from 18th place in the sprint to 15th in the pursuit (1:23.6), penalized by his three faults in the standing shot.

Fighting for the podium until the last shot, after three first passes on the shooting range without a hitch, Fabien Claude paid for his two missed targets: they pushed him back to thirteenth place, more than a minute behind. With just one fault, the Norwegian Vetle Christiansen, who started in ninth position almost a minute late, completes the podium, 7 seconds behind. The Biathlon World Cup continues next week in Hochfilzen, Austria.