Johannes Thingnes Bø won the 12.5-kilometer pursuit race at the Biathlon World Cup in Oberhof. It is the tenth race's seventh win of the season for the Norwegian. Arnd Peiffer won the final sprint in a duel against Lukas Hofer and finished second, 15.1 seconds behind Bø.
Things got exciting in Oberhof after the fourth shooting: Peiffer and Hofer reached the shooting range at the same time, both shot clean and went eight seconds behind Bø in the final round. Martin Fourcade, who finished fourth in the race, was 22 seconds behind after the last shooting with two penalties. Peiffer passed after Hofer, but could not settle. In the final sprint, the Italian tried to pass but unsuccessful. At the end he missed 0.7 seconds on Peiffer.
Sprint World Champion Benedikt Doll came in seventh, Erik Lesser did not start for "private reasons". He will inform on Sunday about the reasons, said the German Ski Association. Lesser had run in the sprint on Friday on 17th place. Most recently, the 2015 Pursuit World Champion had back problems.
The controversial because of his doping past Russian athlete Alexander Loginow was fifth. Loginow had won the sprint in Oberhof. He is currently one of the five Russian skijaggers against whom the public prosecutor's office in Austria is investigating possible violations of anti-doping rules at the 2017 World Cup in Hochfilzen.
The season on Sunday (14.30 clock, TV: ZDF, Eurosport) concludes the World Cup in Oberhof.