Laegreid Claims First World Cup Victory of the Season, Seppala 12th

Laegreid arrived at the shooting range for the last standing stage at the same time as France’s Eric Perrot. Laegreid hit all targets and broke away for the victory, while Perrot missed one shot.

Perrot finished 16.5 seconds behind Laegreid. Norway’s Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen placed third with one missed shot. Laegreid enjoyed his duel with his French competitor and was naturally happy to come out on top this time.

“My only focus was to hit all the targets. When I was going into the last target I saw there was one black left in his. I just thought “Focus, focus, hit the last one”, and I managed” Laegreid told biathlonworld.com.

Two Finnish men, Tero Seppala and Tuomas Harjula, took part in the Mass Start.

Tero Seppala fought for a place in the top ten until the final lap. He ultimately placed 12th, missing 1+1 in the last two shootings.

“It was a good mass start. I was close to finishing in the top six, but I’m happy with this and the entire weekend. The support from the home crowd has been fantastic all weekend”, Seppala praised.

Tuomas Harjula finished 21st with one miss.

“One single penalty – almost a perfect day in that regard. I decided to try to stay with the leaders, but it was too much today. I didn’t have enough capacity on the uphills, and I had to back off. Towards the end it went pretty well”, contemplated Harjula.

---

Original text: Heidi Lehikoinen
English text: Hanna Sairanen