With the men’s sprint, the long-awaited starting signal for the World Cup weekend in Hochfilzen was finally given today. Under glorious weather and an electric atmosphere, Italy’s Tommaso Giacomel delivered a class-of-his-own performance in the opening race. Thanks to flawless shooting and a four-second lead over France’s Eric Perrot—who also shot clean—he claimed the second World Cup victory of his career. Third place went to Germany’s Philipp Horn (+6.0 sec), who likewise avoided any shooting errors.

Once again, veteran Simon Eder provided the best Austrian result of the day. The Salzburger shot clean and finished 31st, 1:39.3 minutes behind the winner. Fabian Müllauer had to ski three penalty loops but put in a strong performance on the course, finishing 39th (+1:49.6 min) and earning World Cup points as well. David Komatz (+2:14.0 min / 3 misses) and Fredrik Mühlbacher (+2:47.6 min / 2 misses) placed 57th and 78th respectively.

Bilder: GEPA