From Kontiolahti to Khanty-Mansiysk

Men’s 15km Mass Start was the final event at the IBU World Championships Biathlon at Kontiolahti. Sunday saw the end of the event, with Slovenian athlete, Jakov Fak, winning the Men’s Mass Start

The finish of Mass Start was close, where Czech Republic’s Ondrej Moravec fell only one second behind the winner. Norway’s Tarjei Boe fsecured the third place being only 3.7 seconds behind Fak.

The top three finishers left the last shooting position within just a couple of seconds of each other. At the end of the day Fak proved to be the strongest skier in the last loop, missing only one target during the race.

”It was a tough fight today, we were all really nervous. These have been difficult World Championships for me and I knew I had to take a medal today”, Fak said in a post event interview

Ondrej Moravec, also missed one target in shooting, but it was his skiing speed, which dragged him behind Fak. However, he was very happy with the result.

”I’m happy. The fight was tough today and this was perfect. I knew Jakov would be strong in the finish and he got the advantage in the last uphill. That’s when I partly gave up”, said Moravec analysing the finish and his personal performance.

The bronze medal in this event was Tarjei Boe’s fifth medal in these World Championships. Although he could not win the gold medal, he still was not much worried about it.

”The gold would have been a better colour of course, but I’m very satisfied with these five other medals. My shooting has been excellent throughout the season and it helped me both today and in the earlier races”, commented Boe, talking of his array of medals.

The Kontiolahti biathlon stadium fell quiet following the men’s Mass start, but the athletes won’t have too much of time to rest, because the World Cup continues on Thursday in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.