Johannes Thingnes Bö is also on track to win the overall biathlon World Cup in the winter of 2023/24. However, the lead over the competition is by no means as clear as last year. Ski hunter icon Ole Einar Björndalen knows the reason.
A few days before the Biathlon World Cup, Ole Einar Björndalen made critical comments about the training performance of Norway’s top star Johannes Thingnes Bö. The 30-year-old is training “much worse” in the current season than in the previous year, “NRK” quotes the TV expert.
“He probably hasn’t improved much physically or technically. He’s even stagnated a little in his skiing,” said the record world champion. “NRK” expert Ola Lunde was in the same vein: “I just think that he is trained too poorly. That he didn’t do his job well enough.”
Although Bö leads the overall World Cup with 806 points, his lead over Johannes Dale-Skjevdal is only 92 points. Last year’s biathlon dominator has a 98-point advantage over his brother Tarjei.
Biathlon star Bö: “I’m trying to change myself again”
Björndalen “cannot remember a top athlete losing so much to the runner-up in one year.” His gap at the end of the 2022/23 biathlon winter was an incredible 491 points. The difference has become particularly clear in the sprint discipline: Bö has lost up to 50 seconds to Dale-Skjevdal and his brother Tarjei this season. Bö is only fifth in the sprint rankings.
The five-time Olympic champion and 17-time world champion is now aware of his new weakness. It was “relatively unusual that I had worse sprints this year than before.”
“I see that things are not quite the same as last year. I’m trying to change again,” said the biathlon star, who also emphasized that his national competitors have improved. “Dale has made a big leap,” praised Bö.