It is an announcement that surprised everyone involved in the biathlon sphere. The Norwegian Johannes Boe, world number one and ogre of the discipline for several years, announced on Saturday January 18 that he will end his career in March, at the end of the World Cup, one year before the Olympic Games 2026, in Italy.
“I had to continue for another year but participating in the Olympic Games demands even more, including for those around me”explained, in tears, the 31-year-old biathlete, winner of five large crystal globes and five gold medals at the Olympic Games, during a press conference organized at the last minute in Ruhpolding (Germany), where the the 5e Biathlon World Cup stage.
His disillusioned look, Thursday January 16, during the individual – Johannes Boe ranked 85ethe worst performance of his career -, where the Frenchman Emilien Jacquelin even had to re-motivate him to avoid abandonment, therefore hid a very deep evil.
« For thirteen years, I have been part of the best national team in the worldhe said. Over the last six seasons, I have combined top sport and family life. It has been incredible but also difficult. »
The Norwegian confided that “the initial plan” was to continue for one more year, in order to participate in the 2026 Games in Milan Cortina, before hanging up for good. But weariness seems to have overtaken him more quickly than expected.
“Now I feel the time has come to put family firsthe added. I still like to compete, but the days of competition are few in the year compared to other days. »
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A sixth large crystal globe to fetch
Johannes Boe now has two more months and a handful of meetings, including the World Championships – from February 12 to 23, in Switzerland – before definitively turning the page on an extraordinary career.
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Five-time Olympic champion, five times winner of the general classification of the World Cup, twenty times world champion, 207 podiums in the World Cup… his record is enough to make you feel dizzy.
Read also | Biathlon: Norwegian Johannes Boe wins his fifth World Cup
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This shock announcement will give a new face to this end of winter in biathlon. Leader of the general classification, with 48 points ahead of his compatriot Sturla Laegreid, Johannes Boe will try to win a sixth big crystal globe and perhaps seek the record of victories held by the other legend of Norwegian biathlon , Ole Einar Bjoenrdalen (88 against 95).
After the retirement of Martin Fourcade in 2020, at the age of 32, biathlon is preparing to lose a new world star. Between them, the Frenchman and the Norwegian have won 12 of the last 13 editions of the World Cup.
