Biathlon : 86th career victory for Johannes Thingnes Boe
The ogre Johannes Thingnes Boe is back on the road to success on the Biathlon World Cup. This Friday, in the opening sprint of the Hochfilzen stage (Austria), the Norwegian set the record straight in an event that has often been his success to date.
Only beaten by seven tenths by a powerful Emilien Jacquelin on the skis, the five-time Olympic champion took the time to rediscover the full potential of his sensations to claim his first victory of the season. After failing to finish on the mats on just one occasion, he put in a magnificent last lap to overtake Sturla Holm Lægreid, who came out of the second shoot with a seven-second lead and was finally relegated to 4 seconds off the line.
“It was very good. I think last week showed a lot of good signs and I know that I tend to get fitter as I go along, recalled the winner of the day at the NRK radio station. It’s great to get this first win and it makes me better. It’s going to be dangerous in the future [Laughs].”
Now with his eighty-sixth career individual success under his belt, Johannes Thingnes Boe got the ball rolling at just the right moment. Indeed, as well as having raised his arms, the man with twenty world titles will be getting back a bib he knows well.
The new leader of the overall World Cup rankings, the 31-year-old biathlete will go into the pursuit with the ambition of keeping the jersey he has held for the last two winters: “I’m always hungry for victory. And there are a lot of us in the team who do. When you’ve won a lot before, it’s the victory that tames your emotions. I’m humble and I know it’s difficult to win”, he admitted in the mixed zone.
Read also
- Hochfilzen: Johannes Thingnes Boe, winner of the sprint, recovers the yellow number lost by Eric Perrot
- More than four years after his last World Cup podium, Fabien Claude finishes third in the Hochfilzen sprint
