First win of the season for Peiffer in Finland

It was a second career pursuit victory for the tall German, who shot cleanly and skied strongly to cross the line in 30:35.0 minutes.

That followed a dramatic finish as Simon Eder headed into the stadium with the lead but Peiffer went wide and slipped by him in the final metres to take victory – the Austrian having to settle for silver, finishing just 0.3 seconds back.

Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway took bronze ahead of the Czech Republic's Ondrej Moravec, while Martin Fourcade finished fifth after accruing four penalties during the shooting.

However, the Frenchman's performance was good enough for him to seal the Crystal Globe for topping the overall World Cup pursuit standings.

But the star of the day was Peiffer, even if the 29-year-old claims his success was unexpected.

"I am very surprised, I didn't expect this," said Peiffer. "I was really struggling with my ski performance, so I was surprised at the finish.

"I thought I would follow Simon, and then I would be on the podium. I thought I had a chance to overtake him in the last metres, and I managed to do this."

Sportsbeat 2017