The French Quentin Fillon Maillet won his fourth medal at the Beijing Winter Games by winning the 12.5 km pursuit test with a time of 39:07.5.
Fillon, who had already won gold in the 20km individual event, silver in the 10km sprint and also silver in the 4x6km mixed relay, He won ahead of the Norwegian Tarjei Boe (+28.6 seconds) and the Russian Eduard Latypov (+35.3).
Italian Lukas Hofer also shot perfectly, but mightn’t match the power of the other frontrunners on a heavy and slow ski course that put a lot of demands on the competitors, eventually finishing fourth.
Conditions mightn’t be worse, with winds blowing thick snow almost horizontally across the runway and they hit the range, but Johannes Boe seemed undeterred, going out first and shooting cleanly on his first visit before sprinting out once more.
Maillet’s shot did not get off to a great start as he struggled with his rifle, hitting it furiously with the heel of his hand before firing cleanly and getting back into the fight 21.7 seconds following Johannes Boe.
Young Boe messed it up on the third shot, missing his first three shots and incurring three rounds of penalty, as Maillet fired cleanly and rushed out in the lead, 10 seconds ahead of Russia’s Latypov.
Another perfect save of five shots in his last throw ensured the Frenchman’s second gold in the Games, following his victory in the individual event.
After winning his first individual medal on Friday with bronze in the sprint, Boe Tarjei added a welcome silver in the pursuitfinishing 28.6sec behind Maillet but easily holding off Latypov for second place.
With no medals, his younger brother came home a disappointing fifth, 2:13.7 behind Maillet, but by then the Frenchman was already celebrating.
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