Sometimes it’s small sentences that give an idea of something bigger. In any case, the competitive athlete Tarjei Bö recently said a sentence that may allow conclusions to be drawn about the person Tarjei Bö. “I’m fighting with my brother for the yellow jersey,” explained Bö. He didn’t say “against” but “with”.
Tarjei Bö is Norwegian, a professional biathlete and one of the best ever in this discipline. However, if you google his last name, you will always first end up with the German dictionary and a strong gust of wind – and soon with him: Johannes Thingnes Bö, also as fast as a gust of wind on cross-country skis, brother of Tarjei, five years younger and five-time gold medalist at the bis last Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof. In other words: Tarjei Bö would be a celebrated biathlete in Germany, but in Norway Tarjei Bö is primarily Superman’s older, not quite as successful brother. At least that’s how it was in the end.
The ski hunter competitions in Ruhpolding, Upper Bavaria, have now left indications that the conditions in the Internet search engines could possibly change. On the one hand, this is because Johannes Thingnes Bö, 30, is obviously not a machine, but a human being. And the fact that Tarjei Bö, 35, is also a human being, albeit a very persistent one.
The big brother achieved third place in the sprint on Friday, and because the little brother only finished ninth, the Bö family moved closer together in the overall ranking. At times, only 54 points separated the two. Johannes Thingnes will travel to Antholz in South Tyrol in the yellow jersey, but his big brother is closer to him than he has been for a long time. A family duel has been going on in the men’s biathlon World Cup since the days of Ruhpolding at the latest. One that probably very few observers of this sport had predicted.
It’s almost a second career (or Tarrjere?) that was outlined on Sunday afternoon in front of more than 20,000 spectators in the Chiemgau Arena. The big brother was already the best in the world when no one was looking for his brother on Google. In the 2010/2011 season, a biathlon era ago, he went down in the history books of the sport as the youngest overall World Cup winner. He became an Olympic relay champion and won seven World Championship gold medals between 2011 and 2013, two of them in the individual event. His last major title was the mass start victory at the World Championships eleven years ago in Nove Mesto. In the years that followed, the older Bö was always among the world elite, but the top results were achieved by someone else.
“To be honest, it’s harder to beat your teammates than the world.”
After his third place in the sprint, Tarjei Bö gave biographical insights. “There aren’t that many people from back then who are still racing,” he said. “Maybe I’m the favorite out of the rest.” Does he intend to become world champion again after eleven years? Now that we’re being asked to take part in the World Championships again in Nove Mesto in February? “It could be a nice story,” said Bö. “I’m strong enough to fight for the medals.” A medal is “the goal, at least”.
For Tarjei Bö these are almost brash tones. It has to be said that he has been in the shadow of his brother for many years, who won almost everything there was to win, especially last season. Is this man actually beatable when it counts? Tarjei Bö would probably not be himself if he didn’t immediately put things into perspective. “For me, Johannes is the clear number one because he has been so outstanding in the last few years,” he says. “But now after all these weeks I think it’s true that I’m almost on his level.”
Almost – that was evident in the final in Ruhpolding. In the men’s pursuit race on Sunday afternoon, the big brother was on course for victory, then he missed two targets in the final standing stage and fell back to seventh place. The little brother did better, he cleared almost everything, improved to third place and increased the gap in the family duel by a few points.
Sunday’s race was one of the closest this season, but that didn’t change the picture on the table: three Norwegian men were ahead of everyone else at the end, Johannes Dale-Skjevdal won ahead of Vetle Sjastad Christiansen. Justus Strelow – as before in the sprint – crossed the finish line as the best German in fifth place behind the French Emilien Jacquelin. Tarjei Bö ended up behind the Italian Tommaso Giacomel. And yet he was somehow right about a statement he made before the race.
“To be honest, it’s harder to beat your teammates than the world.” In the overall World Cup, six Norwegians are now leading, the second – Tarjei Bö – is now on 593 points, 88 points behind his little brother. It was “a new feeling for me to fight with Johannes on such a close level,” he said. Again he said: “with”.