The final races of the Biathlon World Cup took place in Canadian Canmore. In the men’s mass start, Norwegian Johannes Boe won with a significant advantage. The entire podium was dominated by Norwegians. In first place is Johannes Boe, who scored 1262 points. Second is his brother, Tarjei Boe, with 1080 points. And in third place is Johannes Dale, with 949 points. The day before, Johannes had already secured victory in the overall standings, winning his fifth World Cup in the last six seasons. As for the women, French biathlete Lou Jeanmonnot claimed victory in the mass start, but the strongest athlete of the season was Italian Lisa Vittozzi. You can place a bet on biathlon or other sports at the Mostbet kazino.
Norwegians leave no chance
Season after season, Johannes Boe leaves no chances for anyone to grab the Big Crystal Globe. This season was no exception. The younger Boe brother initially allowed his opponents to lead in the standings, but they didn’t capitalize on that opportunity. Although both Germans and Johannes’ older brother Tarjei could have won the overall title.
Yes, Johannes Boe wasn’t flawless. Yes, he gave others a chance. But no one seized that opportunity. Only Tarjei, until almost the last race, had a chance to snatch the trophy from his brother.
As a result, the top 5 remained entirely Norwegian. If it weren’t for the revived performance by the Frenchman Emilien Jacquelin during the North American stages, the sixth position would also have been occupied by a Norwegian biathlete. Jacquelin managed to surprise, perhaps even himself, towards the end of the season. The French team had one of their worst seasons in history, but Eric Perrot’s bright victory and Jacquelin’s podiums partially helped redeem it.
It’s too early to make predictions for the next season—there’s still the entire preseason preparation ahead. However, a few conclusions can be drawn already. Firstly, the Germans can compete with the Norwegians, as they’ve already demonstrated. However, their consistency throughout the season is lacking. Secondly, towards the end of the season, the French improved, and they are capable of posing challenges to the favorites. Thirdly, some biathletes from other countries lacked consistency, including the young Italian Tommaso Giacomel and the two Swedes, Sebastian Samuelsson and Martin Ponsiluoma. All of the aforementioned are capable of showing their potential in the 2024/25 season.
Last season, the younger Boe showed incredible results. Such dominance in world biathlon has never been seen in history. He won 19 victories in 23 races, finishing on the podium in 22 of them, consecutively. Johannes also took seven world championship medals out of a possible seven, five of which were gold.
Intrigue intensified in the women’s competition
Unlike the men, the women managed to maintain suspense in the battle for the main trophy of the season right up to the last race. Heading into the final mass start, two athletes theoretically had a chance to win the World Cup – Lisa Vittozzi and Ingrid Tandrevold. The Italian seemed to have psychologically overwhelmed her opponent even before the start. Arriving at the Canadian stage in third place overall, Vittozzi quickly changed the entire situation with the first two races. While Tandrevold was closer to the end of the second ten, Vittozzi confidently secured a golden double.
Before the stage in Canmore, several athletes could interfere in the fight for the Big Crystal Globe. Among them were Lisa herself and a whole group of French women: Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, Julia Simon, and Lou Jeanmonnot. Predicting the winner was difficult. Tandrevold, seemingly able to recover after a disappointing World Championships, Braisaz-Bouchet demonstrated unreal speed on skis, Simon impressed everyone with her shooting speed, and Jeanmonnot looked very stable overall.
After the first two races in Canmore, the circle of contenders for the top spot in the overall standings narrowed down to two athletes. Ingrid needed to either win or take second place. For Lisa, it was enough not to fall below 11th place, guaranteeing her total victory. But both could mess up this race, adding to the unpredictability. Tandrevold never gained confidence in herself, while Vittozzi had already lost the trophy in the last race.
Vittozzi did not allow a repeat of the situation from the 2019/20 season. From the outside, it seemed like she was just running her race and controlling her opponent’s position. Of course, it would have been much more beautiful and graceful to win all three races of the stage, but for Lisa, it was not necessary at all. Despite an imperfect race for her, in which the biathlete made as many as five misses, Vittozzi still managed to claim the Big Crystal Globe. Overall, the entire season for the women turned out to be quite interesting. The intrigue remained until the last moment. There was no clearly defined leader, no dominating team.
