Johannes Boe closer and closer to Martin Fourcade. The Norwegian won the big crystal globe on Saturday, rewarding the best biathlete of the season for the fifth time in his career after his victory in the pursuit in Canmore (Canada), the penultimate race of the winter.
Boe (30 years old) is getting closer to the record of seven large crystal globes held by Fourcade and he is only one length away from equaling his illustrious compatriot Ole Einar Bjoerndalen and the Swede Magdalena Forsberg, crowned six times each. Boe had already finished at the top of the overall World Cup rankings between 2019 and 2021, and in 2023.
Winner of the pursuit on Saturday when his older brother Tarjei, second in the general classification, placed fifth, Johannes Boe is now out of reach, with 137 points ahead (1172 against 1035 pts) on the eve of the last race of the season, a mass start. A victory earns 90 points.
Starting with more than a minute’s lead inherited from his sprint victory the day before, Johannes Boe, 17 out of 20 in shooting, won ahead of the Swede Sebastian Samuelsson, second, and the young Frenchman Éric Perrot, third by one just over 11 seconds. Émilien Jacquelin, after four missed targets, finished at the foot of the podium, just ahead of Tarjei Boe (2 faults, + 37.9).
He surpasses Fourcade in number of victories
His success on Saturday allows Johannes Boe to overtake Fourcade in the number of individual victories in all competitions: he now stands at 84 (71 in the World Cup, 3 in the Olympic Games and 10 in the Worlds). He now has Bjoerndalen’s record of 95 victories in his sights.
Unlike last winter, the race for the big globe lasted until the penultimate race of the season. Under the threat of his elder Tarjei until the final straight, Johannes Boe was able to tighten the bolts in money time. Before the closing mass start, he has seven individual World Cup victories since the start of the season.
We must add his hat-trick of gold in four individual races at the World Championships in Nove Mesto (Czech Republic) in February, in pursuit, individual and mass start, and his seven medals obtained in seven races.
