Slovenian star Jakov Fak clinches victory in epic Biathlon comeback

Slovenian biathlete Jakov Fak has won the men's 15-km race in Slovenia's Pokljuka to earn his seventh individual career victory in the Biathlon World Cup almost exactly ten years after his previous win.

The 37-year-old Croatian-born biathlete was perfect in shooting and very fast in the running part of the event on the piste at which he has been training for more than two decades, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.

Fak finished 34 seconds ahead of Norwegian Sturla Holm Laegreid, who missed one shot in the last round, and 44 seconds ahead of Swede Martin Ponsiluoma, who missed two shots.

Battling the extremely bad weather, including heavy snowfall that mixed with rain, Fak was the only one besides Germany's Justus Strelow to hit all 20 targets.

"Fortunately, I remained focused and relaxed on the shooting range until the end and I was relatively fast on the piste," Fak said after the win.

This is the first individual Biathlon World Cup victory for the two-time world champion since the 2014/15 season and the first podium finish since January 2023. He now has a total of 22 podium finishes.

Fak was also on the highest platform on the podium at Pokljuka 12 years ago. "The conditions were much more demanding today. It is always nice to win and you never get tired of such feelings," he added.