Samuelsson performed a miracle in the chase. The fast Swede played one minute and won

Samuelsson performed a miracle in the chase. The fast Swede played one minute and won

Mikhail Chesalin December 3, 2023, 19:22 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.

Philippe Navrat ran out of gold, but the only one to blame is himself.

The Biathlon World Cup continues to delight with unpredictable stories and interesting and fun races. In the pursuit race of the first stage of the World Cup, the fate of the gold medal was decided in the last shooting stage.

But the most interesting thing is that Sebastian Samuelsson lost a minute during the race to Philippe Navrat, from whom he took the victory.

Live streams of World Cup races are available on Okko.

Navrat entered the distance with a 20-second advantage over his closest competitors: Norwegians Tarjei Boe and Vebjørn Sørum. And for two laps everything was great for the German: zero shots, high speed and even mistakes from his main competitors. At the exit of the second line of fire, Navrat was ahead of the elderly Bo by as much as 40 seconds, and Sörum was already by 48 seconds.

At the same mark, Sebastian Samuelsson, who managed to complete two penalty laps, was 57.2 seconds behind Navrat. But he wasn’t going to give up.

Philip Navrat

Photo: Kevin Voigt/GettyImages

And he did the right thing! In first position, Navrat failed once, but the fast Samuelsson worked cleanly and literally took off to second place: 17 seconds ahead and the German’s back visible on the long straights.

Few can compete with Samuelsson’s speed, least of all Navrat. As he approached the far post, the Swede was already hot on the German’s heels. A clean shot could have saved him, but his nerve failed him: there was a mistake. The Swede also failed once, but he was already ahead when he left the penalty circuit.

No matter how hard Navrat tried, he couldn’t reach Samuelsson. Although he did not give up second place, despite the active offensive of the Swede Christiansen.

Navrat, despite the defeat, retained first place in the overall World Cup standings and, as expected, Samuelsson rose to second. The difference between the German and the Swede is only one point: 177 versus 176. Tarjei Boe, who finished fourth in the race, rose to third place in the fight for the Globe.

But Johannes Boe’s bad streak continues. The reigning world champion showed the best speed throughout the course, but he could only move from 18th to 15th place. Johannes’ race was ruined by three failures.