in Canmore, Johannes Boe joins Fourcade and heads towards the big globe

Norwegian Johannes Boe flew through the final sprint of the Biathlon World Cup season on Friday in Canmore, Canada, and took a crucial step towards a fifth big crystal globe.

With this victory, the 83rd individual victory of his career in all competitions (70 in the World Cup, 3 in the Olympic Games and 10 in the Worlds), Boe (30 years old) equals “a God of biathlon called Martin Fourcade”. “So it’s a great day!”, he smiles. The next one in his sights? His illustrious compatriot Ole Einar Bjoerndalen and his 95 record successes.

Two races from the end of the season – a pursuit on Saturday and a mass start on Sunday – the youngest of the Boe brothers (30 years old) increased the gap in the general classification with his elder Tarjei to 92 points on Friday, with 1082 points against 990 (victory earns 90).

Impeccable against the targets with a ten out of ten, Johannes Boe pushed back his closest opponents to more than a minute at the end of the sprint: the Italian Tommaso Giacomel, second, precisely at 1 min 02 sec 7/10, and his brother Tarjei, third, at 1 min 4 sec 2/10th. The two of them each committed a shooting foul.

“Finally ! I had a very bad season in sprints after having won them all the previous one. It’s timely!”whispered Boe at the microphone of the L’Équipe channel after his first sprint victory of the winter.

“I have a great opportunity to finish tomorrow (Saturday). I’m going to aim for another victory.”he added.

Last word Saturday?

“He had more ups and downs this season, I stayed within reach (in the general classification), but (…) when he is on a day like that, he is impossible to follow. One minute early, what do you want to do?”greeted the eldest of the siblings.

It is with this considerable lead, equivalent to more than two penalty laps, and the opportunity to have the last word that the recent triple world champion (pursuit, individual and mass start) will take the start of the pursuit on Saturday, penultimate race of the winter.

Having reached the podium twice in a row last weekend at Soldier Hollow (United States), Émilien Jacquelin this time finished on the foot, at 1 min 12 sec 2/10th, after a 9 out of 10 behind the rifle. Upon his arrival, he spoke to the L’Équipe channel about his “frustration of being dropped off in the last lap”in a race where all the Blues were in difficulty on the track.

Victorious for the first time in the World Cup a week ago, in a sprint, Éric Perrot ranked seventh despite a flawless shooting, at 1 min 20 sec 4/10th, and Quentin Fillon Maillet, 17th at 2 min 7/10th, with two missed targets.

Tarjei Boe, who is perhaps living his last winter at 35, pockets the small sprint globe. “At least I’ll bring something back from Canada”he accepts with a smile.