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LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland — Johannes Thingnes Boe’s blistering win in the men’s 10-kilometer sprint Saturday made him the most successful biathlete at the world championships as he eclipsed Norwegian compatriot Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, and he might not be done yet.
The 31-year-old was tied with Bjoerndalen on 20 gold medals before his latest victory, and though he has said he will retire at the end of the season, there are still plenty of races left at the current championships to add to his tally before he skis off into the sunset as one of the sport’s greats.
“It feels amazing. What a fantastic day, one of my best sprints ever,” Thingnes Boe said. “Getting the 21st victory in the world championships to make history in my last championships here is unbelievably good. I don’t think I could have had a more perfect competition, and I could not be happier today.
“Being able to pass Ole Einar Bjoerndalen himself is a big milestone, in my book at least.”
Thingnes Boe hit all of his 10 shots and was more than 27 seconds faster than New Zealand-born American silver medalist Campbell Wright.
He passed Bjoerndalen, who was known as the “King of Biathlon,” in terms of gold medals, but Thingnes Boe’s total of 38 world championship medals is seven short of his countryman’s 45.
Unfortunately for Thingnes Boe’s many fans watching back home, they didn’t get to see his final series of shots live as the TV production missed them, leading to strong criticism from the 51-year-old Bjoerndalen, who was working for Norwegian TV as an analyst.
“Today it was one out of 10 points. It was terrible. You cannot miss the big favorite in the standing [shoot],” he said. “I cannot describe how catastrophic that is for a TV production.”