STA, 9 December 2018 - Finnish biathlete Kaisa Mäkäräinen won the women's 10-kilometre pursuit World Cup event at Pokljuka on Sunday ahead of Italian Dorothea Wierer in a repeat of Saturday's sprint standings. Slovakia's Paulina Fialkova came in third.
Mäkäräinen and Wierer both hit all the targets, but the Finn outpaced the Italian by more than 40 seconds on the skis (+41.3).
Flawless at shooting, Fialkova moved ahead from eight starting position to finish third (+59.2/0), overtaking Italian Lisa Vitozzi just before the finish line (+1:01.5/0).
"I knew I must be fast because Wierer shoots fast. I didn't feel as strong as yesterday but it was enough. I like Pokljuka, the conditions aren't so tough cos there's not much wind," said Mäkäräinen.
Weirer remains in the lead in the overall standings, having collected 144 points in Pokljuka events. Mäkäräinen is second with 131 points, followed by Fialkova with 129.
No Slovenian competed in the women's pursuit.
* Results: 1 Kaisa Mäkäräinen (FIN) 29:16.9/0 2 Dorothea Wierer (ITA) + 41.3/0 3 Paulina Fialkova (SLK) 59.2/2 4 Lisa Vitozzi (ITA) 1:01.5/0 5 Marte Olsbu Roeiseland (NOR) 1:22.1/1 6 Clare Egan (US) 1:22.4/1 7 Irina Kryuko (BLR) 1:26.6/0 8 Irina Starik (RUS) 1:35.6/0 9 Franziska Preuss (GER) 1:43.7/1 10 Evgeniya Pavlova (RUS) 1:48.4/0 - overall World Cup standings (3): 1 Dorothea Wierer (ITA) 144 2 Kaisa Mäkäräinen (FIN) 131 3 Paulina Fialkova (SLK) 129 4 Lisa Vitozzi (ITA) 121 5 Monika Hojnisz (POL) 104 6 Julija Džima (UKR) 98 7 Franziska Preuss (GER) 95 8 Irina Starik (RUS) 92 9 Irina Kryuko (BLR) 87 10 Julia Simon (FRA) 78
Boe wins men's pursuit at Pokljuka
STA, 9 December 2018 - Norwegian biathlete Johannes Thinges Boe won the men's 12.5km pursuit race at the Biathlon World Cup meet on the Pokljuka Plateau on Sunday, pipping France's Quentin Fillon Maillet for the victory in a photo finish.
The younger of the Boe brothers had a 48 second lead ahead of the runner-up before the last standing position shooting stop, but missed two shots.
Russia's Aleksander Loginov hit all the targets, heading for the final lap a few metres ahead of Boe, but Boe overtook him at the 12th kilometre.
Loginov fell just below the top of last climb, which enabled Maillet to squeeze ahead, but Boe was first
through the finish line.
Boe, who is in the lead in the overall World Cup standings after winning Tuesday's sprint on Pokljuka, ended the race with three missed shots 0.1 of a second ahead of Maillet, who hit all the 20 targets.
Loginov finished third with one missed shot and 1.9 seconds behind the winner.
The best Slovenian, Jakov Fak came in 22nd. Having missed one target he finished 1:57 minutes behind the winner. His team mate Miha Dovžan was 49th.
"I cannot be completely satisfied, but I'm happy to have partly achieved the goal of making progress. One missed shot is solid enough result, but it's not perfect," Fak commented, adding that he still had reserve running-wise.
"It's great to compete in front of the home crowd, it makes you fly ... But shooting at home is always hardest psychically because you get cheered for each shot," he added.
* Results: - men's 12.5 km pursuit: 1 Johannes Thinges Boe (NOR) 30:20.4/3 2 Quentin Fillon Maillet (FRA) + 0.1/0 3 Aleksander Loginov (RUS) 1.4/1 4 Simon Eder (AUT) 31.2/0 5 Julian Eberhard (AUT) 32.5/1 6 Tarjei Boe (NOR) 32.9/1 7 Henrik L'Abee-Lund (NOR) 35.1/1 8 Lukas Hofer (ITA) 35.8/2 9 Benjamin Weger (SUI) 35.9/2 10 Antonin Guigonnat (FRA) 42.5/3 ... 22 Jakov Fak (SLO) 1:57.1/1 49 Miha Dovžan (SLO) 4:18.1/4 - overall World Cup standings (3): 1 Johannes Thinges Boe (NOR) 156 2 Simon Eder (AUT) 123 3 Antonin Guigonnat (FRA) 119 4 Aleksander Loginov (RUS) 108 5 Quentin Fillon Maillet (FRA) 93 6 Tarjei Boe (NOR) 87 7 Simon Desthieux (FRA) 81 . Sebastian Samuelsson (SWE) 81 . Michal Krčmar (CZE) 81 10 Artem Prima (UKR) 78 ... 17 Jakov Fak (SLO) 64
