Emil Hegle Svendsen Celebrates In Style with Perfect Pursuit Win (with Photo Gallery)

Svendsen - still in the lead. — Svendsen – still in the lead.

RUHPOLDING, Germany – Just like Gabriela Soukalova a few hours before, Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway went wire-to-wire in the 12.5 k pursuit, taking his lead from yesterday’s individual race and turning it into another victory. Svendsen shot clean in all four stages, and after hitting his last set of targets turned to the crowd and pumped his fists in celebration.

It was a gesture more befitting his rival Martin Fourcade, who was not in attendance, but Svendsen said it was a much simpler reaction than gamesmanship.

“”It was a spontaneous outburst of joy—almost four years since I shot clean so it was about time,” he said in the press conference.

Jakov Fak of Slovenia moved from fourth into second place, and Evgeniy Garanichev won a drag race for third place against Simon Eder of Austria and Simon Fourcade of France. The Russian stepped on Fourcade’s pole, causing him to fall, but Fourcade wrote on twitter that it was just a mistake with no harm intended, and he obviously didn’t hold it against Garanichev.

Tarjei Bø of Norway moved from 37th all the way up to sixth place in one of the most impressive performances of the day. His younger brother Johannes Thingnes Bø had the fastest ski time, but with six penalties he actually dropped from eighth to 18th.

Results

Emil Hegle Svendsen (NOR) heads out on course alone.

Alexei Volkov and Evgeniy Ustyugov, both of Russia, chase Svendsen after finishing second and third in the individual.

Jakov Fak of Slovenia started in fourth. He eventually finished an easy second place.

Dmitry Malyshko (RUS), Simon Fourcade (FRA), and Dominik Landertinger (AUT).

Simon Schempp (GER) receives encouragement form a coach, while Jaroslav Soukup (CZE) follows.

Lowell Bailey (USA) skiing behind Michal Slesingr (CZE).

Sergui Sednev (UKR) and Jean Philippe Le Guellec. Le Guellec shot clean to move from 52nd up to 32nd.

U.S. High Performance Director Bernd Eisenbichler shouts encouragement to Leif Nordgren.

Jakov Fak (SLO) gaining on Evgeniy Ustyugov, who would eventually make errors on the range and allow Fak to pass.

Fredrik Lindstrom (SWE) and Lowell Bailey (USA).

Svendsen gets the media treatment from NRK after the race.

Chelsea Little

Chelsea Little is FasterSkier's Editor-At-Large. A former racer at Ford Sayre, Dartmouth College and the Craftsbury Green Racing Project, she is a PhD candidate in aquatic ecology in the @Altermatt_lab at Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. You can follow her on twitter @ChelskiLittle.