Still not fully aware of what a great season she is having and ascribing it all to the maturity that simply comes with years spent at the BMW IBU World Cup level, Tiril Eckhoff keeps edging closer to Tora Berger’s records from the 2012/2013 season. While Eckhoff is just enjoying her streak of great form, Sturla Holm Laegreid and JT Boe are each trying to figure out how to get an edge over the other in what has become one of the most fascinating fights for the Total Score title ever.

Sturla and JT fight for every second and for every cleared target

When Laegreid emerged seemingly out of nowhere to win the individual at the Season Opening in Kontiolahti, JT Boe said: “This will be the best 24 hours of Sturla’s life. He will come back tomorrow in the sprint and will want to be on the podium; he will not have a bad day after this win.” Both of JT’s predictions turned out to be true, but with a significance no one expected. Just look at Sturla’s achievements in the 2020/2021 season:

1. First-ever win at the BMW World Cup level (in the first week of Kontiolahti)

2. First-ever win in the individual (in the first week of Kontiolahti)

3. First-ever win in the men’s relay (in the second week of Kontiolahti)

4. First-ever win in the sprint (in the second week of Hochfilzen)

5. First-ever win in the pursuit (in the second week of Hochfilzen)

6. First-ever win in the mass start (in Pokljuka 2021)

7. First-ever gold medal at the IBU World Championships (Pokljuka 2021 in the mixed relay)

8. First-ever individual gold medal at the IBU World Championships (Pokljuka 2021 in the individual)

9. First-ever discipline Total Score win (individual)

10. First-ever relay Total Score win (NMNM; a very prestigious win, as he said).

The list could grow longer by the end of the season, for there are three discipline Total Score wins still up for grabs:

1. With two competitions to go, Laegreid (two wins this season) is currently in the lead for the pursuit, with JT, Emilien Jacquelin, Sebastian Samuelsson, Johannes Dale and Fabien Claude still in the mix with numerous possible combinations in play.

2. In the mass start, Tarjei leads JT, Quentin Fillon Maillet, Arnd Peiffer and Laegreid.

3. In the sprint, JT Boe (three wins this season) has a commanding lead over Johannes Dale, Laegreid and Tarjei Boe. He should secure the title tomorrow in the men’s sprint scheduled for 17:30.

While Sturla kept ticking off boxes with ‘First-ever’ by relying on his 93% (or higher) shooting accuracy week-in, week-out, JT tried to adapt to this new challenger and to manage many sub-standard days on the shooting range by relying on a wonderful economy of movement in his skiing. After finishing second in the pursuit in the first week of NMNM, JT stated that he was just an excellent cross-country skier at the moment and less an excellent biathlete. But this might turn out to be his main advantage over Sturla’s shooting supremacy, which Tarjei Boe described as a completely new dimension to biathlon never seen before: JT knows he has never been stronger on skis and this cannot disappear overnight. Sturla, on the other hand, knows he has absolutely no room for mistakes on the shooting range if he is to hold a Crystal Globe in two weeks’ time. Dropping the four worst results of the season, JT has been winning 0.1 point more per competition than Sturla, who on top of everything else has more or less secured the Blue bib. That is how tight their battle for the Yellow bib is.

Eckhoff is thankful for her good shooting form

Even after 10 wins, five in the sprint and five in the pursuit (which more or less secured her Total Score wins in both disciplines), Tiril Eckhoff doesn’t take herself too seriously. She has cried many times over the past 10 years, broken by the intensity biathlon can place even on the finest athletes at the shooting range; there, the only person to blame for the outcome is oneself, because targets ask questions and the answers don’t always come easily.

Take Marte Olsbu Roeiseland, Queen of the IBU World Championships Antholz 2020, where she won a record-breaking seven out of seven available medals, five of them gold, and who wore the Yellow bib from her pursuit win in the first week of Hochfilzen until the end of the sprint in Pokljuka 2021, where, no matter how hard she tried and fought, the biathlon gods simply refused to smile upon her. “Last year was really easy, I was just doing my job and medals simply kept coming. This year in Pokljuka, I tried as hard, if not harder, but a podium in the individual competitions wouldn’t come. It is supposed to be tough to be on the podium. That is why I love biathlon; that is also why I occasionally hate biathlon,” said Olsbu Roeiseland, who finished third in the pursuit in the first week of NMNM and is left with a slight chance to dethrone Eckhoff by the end of the season.

Eckhoff knows all about what Marte said, for she went through a very similar roller-coaster ride last season. “You simply have to be thankful when things are going your way, like they are going my way this season,” said Eckhoff after her pursuit win in NMNM. With five individual competitions scheduled before the end of the season and with the deduction of the four worst results so far this season, Eckhoff has been winning 51.8 points per competition with an upwards momentum. To put this in perspective: when Berger had the best-ever season achieved by a woman, she won 51.4 points per competition, but even with that magnificent achievement, she wasn’t better than the men’s winner that season, Martin Fourcade, who won 52 points per competition in 2012/2013. This season, Eckhoff is handily beating JT and Sturla, who have been winning over three points fewer than she has per competition. To add the most recent comparison: Dorothea Wierer won 39 points and 42 points per competition in her Total Score wins in the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 seasons.

Four women fighting for the Blue Bib

Dzinara Alimbekava (561 points) is currently wearing the Blue bib, with Marketa Davidova (554), Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold (546) and Elvira Oeberg (522) still in with a chance. When we drop the four worst results, Alimbekava has 544 points, Davidova 541, Tandrevold 540 and Oeberg 516. They all had volatile seasons, with the latest developments hinting that Tandrevold is the strongest of the four going into the last five competitions.

The mixed relay winners for the 2020/2021 season are too close to call before the last two competitions this coming weekend.

Photo: IBU/C. Manzoni & V. Thibaut