March 19, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen came from behind to win a historic World Cup pursuit race in front of a wild and ecstatic hometown crowd at the Holmenkollen in Oslo on Saturday. Svendsen prevailed to take the victory on the final leg over his teammate, overall points leader Tarjei Boe, who jumped from 44th to 2nd place, a feat never before accomplished in World Cup biathlon. Martin Fourcade of France had a similarly incredible race, moving up from 35th to take 3rd, the final spot on the podium.

Sweden’s Bjorn Ferry, the winner of Thursday’s sprint race, went out first and got off to a hot start, cleaning his first shooting stage. Germany’s Alexander Wolf and Svendsen also shot clean to round out the top three through the first lap.

Ferry cleaned again in his second round of shooting, while Svendsen and Wolf faltered, missing two and one shots respectively. The pair fell back while Ferry’s Swedish teammate Fredrik Lindstrom took over 2nd position. Florian Graf of Germany moved to 3rd place almost a minute back.

The first standing stage was less kind to Ferry, as he missed a single shot, trailed closely by his clean-shooting teammate, Lindstrom, who narrowed the gap to 13 seconds. Russia’s Evegeny Ustyugov passed Graf to take over 3rd place, leaving the stadium 35 seconds behind the Swedish duo, followed closely by a charging Fourcade.

The day looked to be Sweden’s until the final round when the tables turned to the delight of the Holmenkollen fans. Both Ferry and Lindstrom missed a pair of targets in their final shooting stage leaving the door to the podium swinging wide open.

The chasers were up to challenge as Svendsen, Fourcade, and a now fourth-placed Boe all cleaned to close the gap. With Svendsen taking over 1st, and Fourcade close behind, Ferry left the penalty loop in 3rd place, just ahead of Boe.

With 1,700 meters to go, Boe had propelled himself into a small lead over Svendsen, only to relinquish it near the entrance to the stadium as Svendsen counter-attacked, heading through the last corner and over the small bridge to the finishing straight, in the lead.

The two battled it out all the way to the finish line, with Svendsen defeating Boe by 0.6s in a thrilling finale. In third at 7.6 seconds back was Fourcade with a comfortable margin of almost half a minute over Ferry in 4th.

After the race, Svendsen talked about his teammate’s unfathomable performance. “When I saw Tarjei there, I was shocked. On the final hill, I knew that I had to save some energy for the finish,” Svendsen said an IBU interview, “I do not think this was my best race ever. It was actually easier for me than it looked, but this is my best season ever.”

IBU Video Interview with Norway’s Tarjei Boe and Emil Hegle Svendsen

For Boe it was redemption for Thursday’s 10km sprint where he finished a dismal 44th. “When we got to the final uphill, I had to try to get the lead. I had been at maximum speed from the start,” Boe said of his last lap, “I knew that Emil had an easier race than I did, but I had to try. My strength is on the uphills. But when I got to the top, I saw him. Then I had to focus on the sprint – but we seriously did not have a chance.”

Fourcade, with a similarly superb day, thought he could have accomplished more. “My shape was not good enough today. But on the last lap, I felt good. On the last uphill, when Tarjei attacked, I said to myself that I have to attack before the finish. But they were really strong and it was too difficult.”

Tim Burke, had another solid day, finishing 22nd in the men’s pursuit, posting a time of 34:37.6 at 1:38.4 behind Svendsen, with four penalties. “It was a bit faster on the track today but I’m just tired. Of course that’s the same for everyone, so that’s okay. The shooting was again on my season’s standard. Not good, but also not too bad,” said Burke in an US Biathlon report.

The trio, who lead the WCup overall for the Yellow Bib, have solidified their positions, with Boe in 1st with 1,076 points, Svendsen with 1,045, and Fourcade in 3rd with 954.

Full results HERE.

Results (brief)

1. Emil Hegle Svendsen , NOR (0+2+1+0) 32:59.2
2. Tarjei Boe, NOR (0+0+1+0) 0.6
3. Martin Fourcade, FRA (1+0+0+0) 7.3

22. Tim Burke, USA (1+0+2+1) 1:38.4