Tommaso Giacomel comes close to a double: "An unreal proof"

After his success in the 10-kilometer sprint on Friday, Tommaso Giacomel experienced a star-studded race on Saturday as well, again on the Austrian snows of Hochfilzen, taking second place in the men’s pursuit race on Saturday, behind only Eric Perrot. Only ten seconds separated the French athlete from the Italian, while Norway&#8217s Johan-Olav Botn completed the day&#8217s podium.

“I am happy to have picked up where I left off last year – explained Giacomel on the sidelines of the race. “It feels really good, I am aware of my qualities. If you feel that you have to aspire for the maximum result, you can’t settle for the minimum result: I handled the two races well and even today’s test in my opinion was unreal”.

“I think the changing of the guard from the old to the new generation has taken place, although people like Samuelsson certainly cannot be considered old. I had put among my goals at the beginning of the season to make a few podium appearances, but I didn”t expect to win the sprint in Hochfilzen, which is the most difficult race, and finish second today”.

“Now the challenge will be to keep going like this, staying focused and thinking only about training with serenity” then concluded Giacomel, who with today&#8221s second place moved up to second place in the overall World Cup standings with 298 points, 67 less than Botn who commands the standings at 365.