Winter Olympics: Johannes Thingnes Boe shows timing is everything as Martin Fourcade hails masters of windy conditions

In the end, we really shouldn’t have doubted him. For most of the season regular watchers of the biathlon have really struggled with what to make of the form of Norwegian superstar Johannes Thingnes Boe. Ad/> The 2020-21 overall World Cup winner took until December to win a race and right from the get-go he looked a long way off his usual, dominating self.

/> Beijing 2022'Biathlon at its best!' — Fourcade reacts to Norway's thrilling winAN HOUR AGO That led to plenty of speculation coming into Beijing. Was he simply biding his time for the Olympics? Was he struggling to adjust to new wax on the skis following a change in regulation from the International Biathlon Union? Or was he simply out of form? We may never know what was really going on with Boe but we do know one thing for certain. He’s back.

Or at least pretty close to being back after a dominant final sprint saw Boe launch himself and Norway from third place up into the gold medal position, beating out France and the Russian Olympic Committee in the mixed relay. It was a masterful performance from Boe, who had some work to do after some of his team-mates, noticeably Tiril Eckhoff, struggled to get to grips with the windy conditions. “It’s biathlon at its best, really exciting,” said biathlon legend and five-time Olympic gold medal winner Martin Fourcade in the Eurosport Cube.