Biathlon: the sensation Jakov Fak in Pokljuka
The last time Jakov Fak won on the World Cup circuit was exactly 3,644 days ago. On 22 March 2015, in Khanty-Mansiysk (Russia), the Slovenian won the final mass-start of a winter in which he had become world champion of the speciality.
10 years ago, Simon Fourcade, Jean-Guillaume Béatrix, Daniel Boehm, Arnd Peiffer, Fredrik Lindstroem, Michal Slesingr, Emil Hegle Svendsen and Florian Graf were still on the circuit. An eternity later, Jakov Fak, still there, won again on the world circuit.
Now 37, he scored one of only two 20/20 times in the individual short in Pokljuka (Slovenia) to win on home soil. After clocking an astonishing sixth fastest time on his cross-country skis, he capitalised perfectly on his 20/20 to cross the finish line in the lead with his number 5 bib. After that, no one managed to get ahead of him and, at home, Jakov Fak triumphed. With his ninth career victory, the Slovenian saw his tenacity pay off.
No podium for the French
On the podium, he was joined by Norway’s Sturla Holm Lægreid (19/20), the new overall leader and winner of the small individual globe, at 34 sec 3 and Sweden’s Martin Ponsiluoma (18/20) at 44 sec 3, who was back on the World Cup podium for the first time in two seasons.
Tommaso Giacomel (18/20), Johannes Dale-Skjevdal (19/20), making his World Cup comeback, and Quentin Fillon-Maillet (17/20), who set the fastest time in cross-country skiing, rounded off the day’s top 6.
Eric Perrot (17/20) was eighth, whileEmilien Jacquelin (18/20) was eleventh, Oscar Lombardot (18/20) eighteenth and Emilien Claude (17/20) nineteenth.
Flowers 💐 for Quentin
Supersonic on skis and monstrous on his feet, @quentinfillon finishes 6th in the Pokljuka individual short! Too bad he made 3 mistakes on the prone shot 🙏🏻
📸 Nordic Focus pic.twitter.com/OokGTga3yN– FFS – Fédération Française de Ski (@FedFranceSki) March 13, 2025
Full results
- The full programme for the Pokljuka World Cup, the eighth stage of the 2024/2025 season
- Corinne Niogret: my best memory of… Pokljuka
- Lou Jeanmonnot vs Franziska Preuss and Johannes Thingnes Boe vs Sturla Holm Lægreid: in Pokljuka, a high-risk individual race in the race for the big crystal globe
- Pokljuka: Julia Simon follows up her victory by winning the individual short at 20/20, all the French women in the top 10
- Julia Simon tells Nordic Magazine after her success in the Pokljuka individual short: “I’m very happy to have built up this race in such a beautiful way”.
- Pokljuka: Lou Jeanmonnot wins the small crystal globe in the individual event, a first for a Frenchwoman
- Pokljuka: third in the individual short, Franziska Preuss claws back points from Lou Jeanmonnot in the race for the big globe
- “I’m not going to give up”: Lou Jeanmonnot tells Nordic Magazine after the individual short in Pokljuka
- Pokljuka: Océane Michelon takes command of the U23 rankings and will be wearing blue for the mass-start
- Océane Michelon, fifth in the Pokljuka individual short: “I’m copying and pasting from Kontiolahti”.
