Johannes Boe had a failed career, but still took the Globe. How does he manage to do this?
Mikhail Chesalin March 1, 2024, 19:45 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
He made two mistakes and came in fifth place. And another Norwegian won.
We live in the era of Johannes Boe, who rules world biathlon, and nothing can be done about it. In the World Cup phase in Holmenkollen, the Norwegian had a failed individual race, but he still took the Small Crystal Globe by a wide margin in the biathlon classic classification.
How does he manage to do this?
Live streams of the 2024 World Championship races are available on Okko.
The fate of the trophy was decided immediately
There are only three individual races on the World Cup calendar, and according to the results of two of them, Johannes Boe took first place. He won one of the starts, took bronze in the second and had 150 points at his disposal. His main competitor was the German Roman Res (121 points). And behind Tarjei Boe (90 points) there was already a dense group of competitors. However, Johannes could feel comfortable. The main thing was not to fail at all.
Johannes showed the best speed at distance, but did not shoot well: two misses, one in the second and third shooting range. With the burden of a two-minute penalty, not even the fast Norwegian could get on the podium. However, it was clear that in any case he would enter the top 10.
Johannes is absolutely fine this season:
Johannes Boe repeated Ole Einar Bjoerndalen’s record. But who is the best Norwegian?
It only remained to understand how Res would show himself today.
And the Germans surrendered almost without a fight. I already made a mistake once in the first line of fire and then disappeared from sight. When I reached the finish line, it turned out that I did not fail again, but instead took a modest 25th place.
The winner of the Small Crystal Globe has already been determined. It was Johannes Boe. And why aren’t the shelves in his house filled with prizes?
Three Norwegians on the podium
The fight for gold in a certain race was more interesting than the battle for the Globe. From the first minutes of the race, Tarja Boe, who started in fourth place, became a reference point for everyone. Everything about him was wonderful: speed and precision. It seemed like it would immediately show the best result that no one could surpass. But the twentieth shot missed. Tarjei missed, received a one-minute penalty and was forced not to accept congratulations for the medal, but to look nervously at the scoreboard.
Tarjei Boe
Photo: Alex Grimm/Getty Images
It was possible to reach Bo Sr. only if the shoot was perfect, but there were many applicants. At some point, a whole group of six athletes, who had surpassed all the objectives in the first three stages, were preparing to push the leader. Among them were the Norwegians Lægreid, Christiansen and Strømsheim, Guigonna and Perrault from France and Rastorguev from Latvia.
There were six contenders for victory, but only Lægreid managed to control his nerves. He hit all the goals and came out of the fourth line with a lead of almost a minute over Tarjei Boe. It is true that it was very difficult to complete the fifth lap and he was only 28.5 seconds away from a colossal difference, but he still won!
Tarjei Boe held second place, and the fastest of those who chased him but failed was Christiansen. Three Norwegians return to the podium!
For Eric Perrault it is even a shame: Vetle Sosta Christiansen literally displaced him from third place at the last moment, overtaking him by a second. However, Perrault can be glad to have left Johannes Boe behind. The list of participants in the floral ceremony was completed by the newly crowned world runner-up Andrei Rastorguev. That’s what really bloomed this season!
On Saturday, March 2, the races will be held with a general start in Holmenkollen.
Rastorguev continues to pleasantly surprise:
“It’s fantastic!” The 35-year-old Latvian won a medal at the Biathlon World Championships
