Johannes Thingnes Bö has done it: In the last competition of this year’s Biathlon World Championships in Nove Mesto, the Norwegian equaled the record set by his compatriot Ole Einar Björndalen.
Biathlon dominator Johannes Thingnes Bö won his 20th World Championship gold in his career in the mass start in Nove Mesto. In doing so, he drew level with record world champion and compatriot Ole Einar Björndalen.
“The last two years have been full of World Cup gold medals, and I’ve experienced a lot of ups and downs. Having 20 was a kind of mini-dream,” the 30-year-old confessed after his victory on Sunday afternoon on “TV2”. At the Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof last year, Bö won gold a total of five times. He also took silver in the relay and bronze in the mass start.
20 world titles: Johannes Thingnes Bö almost twice as fast
He takes three gold medals with him from Nove Mesto. Before his triumph in the mass start, he had also won the individual and the pursuit. He won silver in the relay and mixed relay, and also took second place in the sprint.
Achievements that were also honored by biathlon icon and co-record world champion Ole Einar Björndalen. “It’s absolutely fantastic,” said the 50-year-old TV expert. While Bö only needed 53 World Championship races for his 20 titles, Björndalen needed almost twice as many with 91.
However, Björndalen is still ahead in terms of the number of individual gold medals (11 to 9) and the total number of World Cup medals (45 to 38). The record world champion is the Norwegian Marte Olsbu Röiseland with 13 titles, closely followed by Magdalena Neuner as the historically best German with twelve. The most successful male DSV ski hunter is Frank Luck with eleven World Cup triumphs.