The Norwegians Marte Olsbu Roeiseland and Johannes Boe won Thursday, February 16, during the single mixed relay of the world championships, in Oberhof, Germany, allowing the youngest of the Boe brothers to win his fifth title and to remain undefeated during these Worlds.
The Norwegian duo won their third world title in this format – where each torchbearer completed two laps interspersed with two shots lying down and two shots standing – after Antholz-Anterselva (Italy), in 2020, and Oestersund (Sweden), in 2019.
After the two effective relays of Roeiseland, triple Olympic champion in Beijing in 2022, Norway trembled. At fault three times on the prone shot of his second stint, Johannes Boe had to go through the penalty ring once (75m). He came out of it about ten seconds behind the Austrian and Italian torchbearers – ultimately second and third in the race – whom he quickly overtook on the track. The tricolor duo, composed of Fabien Claude and Lou Jeanmonnot, finished fifth.
Johannes Boe on his way to a septuplet
Thanks to this seventeenth world title, Johannes Boe is a little closer to unprecedented invincibility during this international meeting. This Thursday, with a fifth gold medal won in the same edition of the Worlds, he has already equaled the record of the German Laura Dahlmeier, in 2017, in Hochfilzen (Austria) and her teammate Marte Olsbu Roeiseland, in 2020, in Antholz-Anterselva (Italy). A record that he could improve on Saturday, February 18. At 11:45 a.m., he will be lined up alongside his compatriots in the men's relay, where the Norwegians have been undefeated since January 17, 2022 (seven victories in as many events). If he wins, he will try the next day, Sunday February 19, to achieve an unprecedented grand slam by winning the last individual event of these Worlds, the mass start.
