Four years ago, Martin Fourcade and JT Boe started the 2017/2018 season with a bang. It wasn’t just any other season for PyeongChang South Korea was hosting Olympic Winter Games. It was also a season in which Fourcade wanted to cement his legacy and add more gold medals to his Olympic collection. JT was chasing his first Olympic medal. On the women’s side, things were more complex. Anastasia Kuzmina opened the season strongly, but Laura Dahlmeier, who had one of the best seasons ever in 2016/2017, skipped the opening in Oestersund, just like Magdalena Neuner did in the 2009/2010 season. She, too, had her eyes firmly fixed on the Olympic Winter Games.

Before the Christmas break, Fourcade was atop of the Total Score standings with 432 points. He won two times and what an omen these two victories - the pursuit of Oestersund and mass start of Annecy Le Grand Bornand- turned out to be! He was on the podium six more times on top of that and never let his standard slip. Boe had 412 points, he won five times, was second once, and had two subpar performances. Jakov Fak was third with 306 points and three podiums, and Tarjei Boe was the only athlete who managed to beat his brother JT and Fourcade on the same day, in the sprint of Oestersund.

Kuzmina won twice, had three more podiums and 302 points after Trimester 1. Braisaz- Bouchet was just six points behind with one win, two second places, and 296 points. Kaisa Makarainen, looking for her first medal in her last Olympics, was third with 281 points. Dahlmeier was ninth, Oeberg 45th (!).

Biathlon season, of course, is long. And very few have the mental and physical stamina to compete on a sustainably high level over four gruelling months. Others? They tend to pick their goals with more care. Arnd Peiffer, for one, was 11th in the Total Score standings before the Christmas break. But he was wisely scanning season's developments to pick up his day when the others the least expected him to.

Strong winds with barely a soul present

Pyeongchang awaited biathletes with powerful winds, few spectators, and a time difference. Two main questions were waiting for the answers:

1. Who will adjust the best?

2. Whose daily form will surprise others (and themselves)?

Fourcade miscalculated the wind in the sprint and finished seventh with three misses. “I felt superbly prepared,” reflected Fourcade. “I took some time for me to realise that I never miscalculated the weather this badly. That calmed me down.” JT left himself with no chance for the pursuit with four misses and unusually slow skiing; he finished 31st. With two big favourites on the wrong foot, Arnd Peiffer seized the day and won. Fourcade pounded back in the pursuit and mass start with two wins, and JT Boe won gold in the individual with a bit (or a lot) of luck. Fak won silver in the individual. 

Dahlmeier got her flow back in Annecy Le Grand Bornand just before the Christmas break with three podiums. She won gold in the sprint and pursuit and bronze in the individual in PyeongChang. Eight years earlier Neuner won gold in the sprint and mass start and silver in the pursuit. Kuzmina carried her exceptional form from the beginning of the season to Korea. The Slovak was the fastest in the mass start and silver medalist in the pursuit and the individual. Oeberg discovered her form, used the experience from windy training sessions in Oestersund, surprised everybody, and won gold in the individual. Braisaz- Bouchet was 55th, 10th, 34th, and 20th. She was the outlier, as her good form from Trimester 1 didn't translate into Olympic glory.

PyeongChang 2018 cemented Martin Fourcade's legacy as one of the greatest winter athletes of all time. He traveled to the BMW IBU World Cup in Kontiolahti after the Olympic Winter Games with a nasty stomach bug, although he could have skipped it in full. But he cherished his fight for the Total Score title with JT Boe too much to miss more than one competition (sprint) where he couldn't get out of bed. That is what true champions do.

Photo: IBU; C. Manzoni