Europe 1 with AFP 8:48 p.m., February 12, 2023
Double sprint-pursuit, more gold from the mixed relay at the start: the Norwegian Johannes Boe flew over the first week of the Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof (Germany), like his impressive demonstration in pursuit on Sunday.
Winner of the sprint the day before and starting with a fifteen-second lead over his closest pursuer, his older brother Tarjei, Johannes Boe offered a recital to some 23,500 spectators massed in the stands and along the loops of Oberhof: shooting perfect and authoritative, he won by well over a minute in the pursuit at the Biathlon World Championships in Germany.
His compatriot Sturla Laegreid, also clear behind the rifle, finished 1 min 11 sec later.
Only the Swede Sebastien Samuelsson, finally almost two minutes behind Boe (+1:54. with 2 faults), prevented another Norwegian hat-trick by narrowly depriving Tarjei Boee of third place.
The youngest of the siblings is definitely out of reach.
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"It Was My Day"
"I felt from the first shot that it was my day, I was very calm. There is not much that could stop me today (Sunday)", he admits.
"We don't play in the same league, he's an alien, admires Laegreid. I don't think I can compare myself to him, that's why today, the silver medal is worth it. 'gold."
At the foot of a challenge never before taken up in biathlon when arriving in Oberhof, even by Ole Einar Bjoerndalen or Martin Fourcade, namely to win the four individual events in the same edition of the World Championships, here is Boe (29 years old) halfway path.
The next stage, the individual, is scheduled for Tuesday, and the last, the mass start, on Sunday.
Boe assures that he does not dream of a Grand Slam and that he will be "very happy (if he) wins another gold medal next week" with the Norwegian relay.
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Already very rich list
In the meantime, his already rich record of five Olympic titles continues to grow, with six individual world crowns now, fifteen in total.
World Cup and Worlds confused, he has just won an eighth individual victory in a row, his thirteenth since the start of the season (in sixteen races).
New disappointment for Quentin Fillon Maillet: a shooting failure, where he committed seven faults, including three on his first lying shot, did not allow him to rank better than twelfth, more than three minutes from Boe.
The five-time Olympic medalist in 2022 started in ninth position, 1 min 09 sec behind the race leader.
Double world title holder, Émilien Jacquelin, 36th in the sprint more than two and a half minutes from Boe the day before, had decided not to start in agreement with the management of the France team.
Antonin Guigonnat finished in the top 15 (14th, 5 faults), Fabien Claude narrowly out of the top 20 (21st, 6 faults).