Although the organizers had salted the track, the first start numbers had to trudge through deep slushy snow and the athletes tried again and again to find more solid track passages. The temperature had risen in the last few days, also in the last night the temperatures were above zero. As France coach Vincent Vittoz later said in an interview, his team had perfect skis and generally they are more used to those soft conditions than other athletes because they mostly come from the south of France. So his athletes managed to secure the first four places. Martin Fourcade (FRA) returned with a win and fastest time after a year's break. Almost as fast as him was Quentin Fillon Maillet, who gained two penalties more and was defeated by two compatriots - with the same shooting performance he would have sent Fourcade to second place. As the fifth Frenchman, Fabien Claude (FRA, Fischer ***), 24 years old, achieved a strong seventh place just behind Tarjei Bø (NOR, Fischer ***). Alexander Loginov (RUS, Fischer ***) finished ninth ahead of Johannes Thingnes Bø (NOR, Fischer ***), who lost 2:21 minutes to Fourcade on the track today. According to his own words, he had the worst day in years: "I felt good in the first lap, but then I had a black day, I felt powerless", said the Norwegian, who has no idea why today was so bad.
* = Fischer skis
** = Fischer skis and bindings
*** = Fischer skis, bindings and boots
