It has been more than two years since Vladimir Iliev made his final appearance in the World Cup among the top ten. Apart from European Championships, where he gained three medals over the years and became European sprint champion in 2017, he celebrated his greatest achievements at the 2015 World Championships, where he finished eighth and sixth in sprint and pursuit. However, these good results have always been rare successes because most of his shooting performances with a hit rate of well below 80% prevent better results. Now the Bulgarian is suddenly back - and that in the individual competition! A few days before his 32nd birthday he made himself the most beautiful gift with this silver medal with only one shooting error. Tarjei Bø fought during the last kilometers a standing battle with the Bulgarian, who stayed ahead of the Norwegian despite a poor final lap. Evgeniy Garanichev (RUS, Fischer skis and bindings) finished seventh with a penalty just a few seconds ahead of seventh-placed Johannes Thingnes Bø, who missed three targets. "After a long season, you do not have the energy to be nervous and I did not have much expectations today. I have to wake up until the next race!", he laughed. Andrejs Rastorgujevs (LAT, Fischer skis, bindings and boots) was on his way to gold until his final shooting, but missed two targets and finished 13th.
