{"id":4202,"date":"2021-01-26T08:59:05","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T07:59:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/?p=4202"},"modified":"2022-08-16T08:59:50","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T06:59:50","slug":"norway-versus-rest-of-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/norway-versus-rest-of-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Norway versus rest of the world"},"content":{"rendered":"

Next week, over half a million Norwegians will follow the live TV broadcasts from the IBU World Championships 2021 in biathlon, which will be held in Pokljuka in Slovenien. This is not least due to the fact that both the female and male biathletes from Norway have been very dominated in this season\u2019s World Cups, where there have been 21 victories in 40 races, i.e. the Norwegian biathletes have won more than half of the World Cup races. The Norwegian biathletes\u2019 performance is completely unique in a sport which \u2013 in addition to Norway \u2013 is dominated by European countries such as France, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Italy, Austria and Belarus.<\/p>\n

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Biathlon is one of the most popular winter sports<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Biathlon is a fascinating and extremely demanding sport, which consists of the ski discipline cross-country skiing and precision shooting with a rifle. The combination of many different skills of biathletes \u2013 endurance, speed, strategy, precision and concentration \u2013 has meant that biathlon, especially in recent years, has developed into one of the most popular winter sports. World Cups like in Oberhof and Ruhpolding in Germany, Hochfilzen in Austria, Anholz in Italy and Holmenkollen in Norway today attract more than 40,000 spectators \u2013 in addition to millions of TV viewers from around the world. Biathlon is on the Olympic program with a total of 11 disciplines: 5 for each gender (sprint, pursuit, mass start, individual and relay) and one mix relay with two biathletes of each gender. All disciplines are characterized by the biathletes running several laps over a certain distance \u2013 typically between 7.5 km and 20 km \u2013 and several times along the track the biathletes fire 5 shots at 50 meters, either in a lying or standing position. The diameter of the disc is 45 millimeters for lying shooting and 115 millimeters for standing shooting.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Johannes Thingnes Boe \u2013 on the way to legend status after Bjoerndalen and Fourcarde\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Johannes Thingnes Boe, who was born and raised in Stryn in Western Norway as the youngest of a sibling group of five, already showed as a junior a unique talent as a biathlete. Boe won 3 gold medals at the World Championship for juniors in 2012 and already the following season he won his first World Cup victory, qualified for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi and achieved a impressing 3\u2019rd place in the overall World Cup. Subsequently, the 27-year-old Norwegian has been one of the world\u2019s best biathletes with 3 Olympic medals, 20 World Championship medals and no less than 52 World Cup victories. However, it was not until the 2018-2019 season that the sympathetic Norwegian managed to win the overall World Cup ahead of the French legend \u2013 Martin Fourcarde, who won the World Cup 7 seasons in a row. However, for the past two seasons Johannes Thingnes Boe has been by far the most winning biathlete and especially his 6 World Championship medals \u2013 3 gold and 3 silver \u2013 at last year\u2019s World Championship in Antholz were of a historic performance.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The four best biathletes in the overall World Cup are Norwegians<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Also this season, Johannes Thingnes Boe is the favorite to win the overall World Cup and most World Championship medals, but he is strongly challenged by three other Norwegians: Big brother 32-year-old Tarjei Boe, Johannes Dale and not least the season\u2019s biggest surprise: Sturla Holm Laegreid. The 23-year-old Laegreid has already in his first international season won no less than 4 individual races and in addition achieved 3 podium places, which currently. gives a 2\u2019nd place in the overall World Cup. At first glance, it is difficult to find biathletes from other nations who can seriously threaten the four Norwegians, who after 15 of the season\u2019s 26 individual races are placed in the top four places in the overall World Cup. I believe that the duel for the overall World Cup will only be decided between Boe and Laegreid in the last race of the season: Sunday 21 March 2021 at Holmenkollen in Oslo. In my opinion, the sovereign Norwegian biathletes can in the battle for World Championship medals be challenged by the two Frenchmen \u2013 Quentin Fillon Mailet and Emilie Jacquelin \u2013 Arnd Peiffer from Germany, the two Swedes \u2013 Sebastian Samuelsen and Martin Ponsiluoma \u2013 and the Russian Alexander Loginov, who has previously been banned for 2 years due to doping, and the veteran Jakov Fak, who has advantage of home at the World Championship.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Marte Olsbu R\u00f8iseland \u2013 \u201cChampion of Champions 2020\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Marte Olsbu R\u00f8iseland, who comes from Arendal in the southern part of Norway, has, like Johannes Thingnes Boe, seriously in the last three seasons marked herself as the world\u2019s best female biathlete. Olsbu R\u00f8iseland already made her debut in the World Cup back in the season 2012-2013, but for several seasons she had a very hard time achieving top 10 places, both at the World Cup and the World Championships. At the IBU World Championship 2020, however, 30-year-old Olsbu R\u00f8iseland became a major international breakthrough. She became the first biathlete ever to win 7 World Championship medals \u2013 5 gold and 2 bronze \u2013 out of 7 possible. A fantastic performance, which led to the selection of Olsbu R\u00f8iseland as the world\u2019s best female athlete in 2020 \u2013 \u201cChampion of Champions\u201d \u2013 by the French sports magazine \u201cL \u2018Equipe\u201d.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Olsbu R\u00f8iseland, Eckhof or Oeberg win the overall World Cup<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Olsbu R\u00f8iseland has won a total of 2 Olympic medals, 12 World Championship medals and 8 World Cup victories. And now all indications are that for the first time in her career she has good chances of winning the overall World Cup. Among Olsbu R\u00f8iseland\u2019s worst competitors for both the World Championship medals and the overall World Cup is her friend and training partner Tiril Eckhof, who is currently occupies 2\u2019nd place in the overall World Cup \u2013 only 8 points behind Olsbu R\u00f8iseland. Also Hanne Oeberg from Sweden, who is currently occupying 3\u2019rd place in the overall World Cup \u2013 only one point behind Eckhof \u2013 is a serious threat for Olsbu R\u00f8iseland, both in the World Cup and for the World Championship medals. Also among the women, I believe that the winner of the World Cup will only be found between Olsbu R\u00f8iseland, Eckhof and \u00d8berg in the last race of the season \u2013 Sunday 21 March 2021 \u2013 at Holmenkollen in Oslo. Candidates for next week\u2019s World Championship medals include Dorthea Wierer from Italy, Lisa Theresa Hauser from Austria, Franziska Preuss from Germany and Julia Simon from France. In particular, Simon and Hauser showed impressive form at the recent World Cup in Antholz.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

IBU World Championship 2021 as a benchmark for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

T<\/span>he upcoming World Championship will also give signals about the individual biathletes and nations\u2019 potential at next year\u2019s Winter Olympic Games, which will take place in Beijing in the period February 4 \u2013 20, 2022. There is no doubt that the most medal candidates for the world\u2019s strongest<\/span>\u00a0winter sports nation \u2013 Norway \u2013 must be found in biathlon.<\/span>\u00a0World-class athletes such as Johannes and Tarjei Boe, Dale and Laegreid in the men competitions as well as Olsbu R\u00f8iseland, Eckhof and Tandrevold in the women competitions will be exponents of a large number of Olympic medals and in my opinion also significantly more than the 6 Olympic medals \u2013 of which \u201conly\u201d one<\/span>\u00a0of gold \u2013 which Norway won at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You can find relevant information about biathlon on the following websites:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n