Johannes Boe rolled into the last shooting of the pursuit alone. The Norwegian made four accurate shots, turned to the stands of the stadium in Holmenkollen and gestured for them to be silent. He closed the last target — and the stands exploded with a deafening roar.
At the entrance to the finish line, Be Jr. stopped and bowed to the audience, and only after that he completed the race. Only Johannes, who competed exclusively with himself for the last year, can afford such performances in modern biathlon.
The 2022/23 season turned out to be historic not only for Boe himself, but for the entire biathlon. Fans have not seen such dominance of one athlete over others for a very long time. Johannes won 19 out of 25 individual races in the season, updating his own record.
Boe was ahead of the closest pursuer in the World Cup by almost five hundred points. The Norwegian became the owner of a large Crystal Globe for four individual races before the end of the season. Even the coronavirus did not stop him, because of which Johannes missed a couple of races. If not for the illness, there would definitely have been more victories in the season.
Be was honored by the king of Norway
Another king, the Norwegian monarch Harald V, came to see the «coronation» of the biathlon king. » Now I see the king more often than my wife,» Be joked after the finish.
Harald can definitely be pleased with the performance of the men's biathlon team. In the overall standings of the World Cup, five Norwegians at once got into the top 7, and the team won all the relay races of the season. If we take all the men's races in general, then only two gold medals per year at the World Cup were not for the Norwegian biathletes. During the course of the season, he clearly hinted several times that he did not intend to leave biathlon in the near future. He wants to compete at the Olympics in Milan, and then think. So for another three years, the Norwegian will delight fans with his incredible achievements. But what other motivation could Be have?
On this question he has a clear answer: to break the records of Martin Fourcade and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen. The former China coach still holds the record for most World Cup victories. Ole Einar has 20 gold medals, while Johannes has 17. If Boe leaves in 2026, as planned, then he has two more world championships in store, for which he will need to win four times.
Bjoerndalen is ahead of the pursuer in Olympic gold medals. He has eight of them, and Johannes has five, so it’s impossible for a red-haired Norwegian to fail in Milan. Fourcade also holds the lead in victories in the overall World Cup standings. If Boe wins the Globe in each of the next three seasons, he will be equal to the Frenchman — they will have seven awards.Behind the total dominance of Be Jr., the performance of Sturla Legrade remained unnoticed. He finished second in the total with 1098 points. If you do not compare with the season of the incredible Johannes, then it turns out that Sturla spent the year at the highest level. With that many points, he would have won the big Crystal Globe in the last three seasons. This once again proves the uniqueness of the past season.
Depression scandal
Against the backdrop of celebrations for Johannes, Holmenkollen did not pay much attention to the scandal. The stage was the last for the coaches of the French men's team in their current positions. Vincent Vittoz and Patrick Favre announced their departure from the team, despite their desire to stay. And it's not about the results at all.
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"We summed up the season together with the athletes who expressed their vision of the situation. Apparently they don't want to listen to us anymore. We admit that we have lost rapport with the team. Biathletes are tired of the training we offer, so we don't think we can effectively work with them next season. It is time to leave,” Vittoz and Favre said in a statement.
Vincent and Patrick expressed not the most pleasant words after leaving. The fact is that in their statement they mentioned Emilien Jacquelin's depression, which he has been suffering for a year and a half. The biathlete himself said that his results had nothing to do with the psychological state, and the coaches had no right to disclose such information without the permission of Emilien himself. The biathlete also said that no one had officially diagnosed him with depression, so the words of the former coaches should be regarded only as their personal opinion.
Revival of Italy
For women, the main intrigue of the season was kept until the very end. Until the last races, Dorothea Wierer had a chance to overtake Jules Simon in the overall standings, but in the end the Frenchwoman got the big Crystal Globe. And this can definitely be called a sensation, since this Simon did not rise above eighth place in the «total».
Following Simon and Wierer in the overall standings is Lisa Vitozzi. The last three seasons, she could not hold powerfully from beginning to end. Either uncertain shooting interfered, or health problems appeared at the most unnecessary moment. But this year, Lisa was able to find stability again.
If the Italians pleasantly surprised last season, the Norwegians looked noticeably weaker, especially against the background of male compatriots team. In the top 10 «total» got only Ingrid Tandrevold.
The failure is a consequence of health problems among the leaders of past years. Tiril Eckhoff did not run a single race at all, and Marte Olsbu-Røiseland missed half of the season. As a result, both girls recently announced their retirement from biathlon.
After the statement of the Norwegians, several eminent biathletes immediately followed their example. The 2022/23 season was the last for Denise Hermann, Anaïs Chevalier-Boucher and Marie Eder, so there will be new heroes in the upcoming biathlon season who will take the places of the departed on the podium.