Biathlon: rocket Johannes Thingnes Boe sets the record straight after missing out on the individual race
This Thursday, in the mixed relay at the Biathlon World Championships in Lenzerheide (Switzerland), Norway lined up an unprecedented duo in a bid to win its first world team title at this 2025 event. Ragnhild Femsteinevik and Johannes Thingnes Boe set off to represent their country.
And it has to be said that things didn’t exactly get off to the best start for the Scandinavian team. No doubt under pressure for her first appearance in this event, Ragnhild Femsteinevik took five shots on her first two attempts.
It was a poor performance that relegated his team to more than 30 seconds off the lead held by France’s Julia Simon, who won her first relay like a boss. Johannes Thingnes Boe, who had won the individual title twice in the first week of the competition, had three errors. Despite his mistakes, the Norwegian ogre enabled his nation to gain precious seconds.
And while his compatriot added three more errors to his tally during his second run, the man with twenty-two world titles fouled out four times. But that didn’t stop him from putting in a wild performance on stage.
With his glide restored after the disappointment of the previous day, the 31-year-old biathlete simply crushed Germany’s Justus Strelow on the final lap of the day. The native of Stryn (Norway) caught up with Strelow at breakneck speed and impressed, helping his team to a fine silver medal: “We were back on good skis and it was a fantastic feeling to feel that incredible glide,” he told NRK.
While he admits that Norway “could have won gold”, Johannes Thingnes Boe is not forgetting the many bullets fired outside the targets on the mats: “We used a few too many picks, but we still managed to win a medal”, he is nevertheless satisfied.
“There’s a lot of emotionRagnhild Femsteinevik at NRK
Her 29-year-old team-mate was savouring her first career world title. “I was very nervous and excited. I almost felt a little guilty about being chosen. There are a lot of emotions,” she says. It was a bit unreal and so much fun to do this relay with Johannes.
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