Norwegian Johannes Thingnes Bö becomes the first male biathlete to win five gold medals at a world championship. The 29-year-old secures the historical fifth title at the fifth start in Oberhof in the single mixed with his compatriot Marte Olsbu Röiseland.
When the record hunters Marte Olsbu Röiseland and Johannes Thingnes Bö celebrated their historical bests, Sophia Schneider and Philipp Nawrath were a bit shattered. With sixth place in the single-mixed relay, the German duo could not live up to expectations. But the German biathlon team immediately focused on the conclusion of the home World Championships in Oberhof with the relays on Saturday and the mass starts on Sunday.
“Then we’ll attack again at the weekend, there are two real highlights,” said DSV frontwoman Denise Herrmann-Wick defiantly. The 34-year-old had given up the single-mixed competition because of the previous stress. You were “always there in all seasons this winter. It would be a lie if I didn’t say that we want to get on the podium there,” emphasized DSV sports director Felix Bitterling. National coach Mark Kirchner was also combative: “We want to run for medals in the relays, and we also have justified hopes for medals in the mass starts. It’s quite possible.”
By then, the most recent disappointments should have been worked through. As in the two individual races, the hoped-for medal did not materialize in the single mixed either. A penalty loop by Schneider was ultimately too much. “It wasn’t quite as satisfying,” Kirchner said. You didn’t know exactly “where I’m shooting. It wasn’t a good shot,” said Schneider (25), who had previously impressed at the World Cup, self-critically on ARD. Nawrath’s undoing was that he wanted to follow high-flyer Bö in the second lap: “That was sporty. I had to pay for it with three spares. That was a small sticking point.”
Bö also had a penalty loop, but it was still enough for the exceptional athlete from Norway to enter the biathlon history books. The 29-year-old won his fifth gold in Oberhof in the fifth race, never before had a man achieved this at a World Championship – not even the legends Ole Einar Björndalen and Martin Fourcade (4 each). In Thuringia, Bö can even be the first to win seven titles in seven races. Norway’s men’s relay is a big favorite in Thuringia on Saturday, as is Bö himself in the final mass start on Sunday
And his partner Röiseland also achieved something historic. For the 32-year-old it was her 13th (!) World Cup gold. The Norwegian took over the record from Germany’s icon Magdalena Neuner (12). The duo (1 6) was 13.8 seconds ahead of the surprisingly strong Austrians (0 6) with Lisa Hauser and David Komatz as well as Italy (51.0/2 9) with Lisa Vittozzi and Tommaso Giacomel. The DSV duo (1 12) was 1:30.7 minutes behind in the race over 4×3 1.5 km.
