Tarjei Boe Announces Retirement

Norway’s Tarjei Boe promptly announced his retirement after his first-ever victory at Antholz this afternoon in the Men’s 10 km Sprint. The elder Boe brother’s retirement, effective at season’s end, comes just days after his brother Johannes Thingnes Boe said he would step away this coming March in Oslo.

Tarjei, with his second win this season, felt the time was right today; after revealing several days ago he had made a retirement decision. “My first victory here in Antholz; I said to myself if I won again, I would say it, because I want to give it maximum attention and have it as a memory…Now I can feel relieved and can enjoy the rest of the season.”

The 36-year-old was the elder statesman of the Norwegian team; all of his teammates, save his 31-year-old brother, are all in their mid to late twenties.

This year marks Tarjei’s 16th World Cup season and the end of an international career that started with the 2006 IBU Youth Junior World Championships. He’s won titles and medals at every level, starting with his 2006 IBU Youth Individual Gold medal in Presque Isle, Maine. Medals at the 2009 IBU YJWH paved the way for his promotion to the 2010 Norwegian World Cup team and an Olympic Relay Gold medal with the legendary Ole Einar Bjoerndalen on anchor.

His Greatest Season

2010/11 was Tarjei’s greatest season when he won the IBU World Cup Total Score Crystal Globe, as well as the Sprint and Pursuit Score small globes. He won five times and brought home six IBU World Championships medals including three Gold: 20 km Individual, Mixed and Men’s Relay. He almost prophetically admitted after winning the Total Score, “I might never win this again, so I am going to enjoy it.” Ironically, he never reached that height again, battling injuries and illnesses for years but still winning titles and medals and finished second to his brother last season.

Tarjei won 26 IBU World Championships medals and seven Olympic medals, but unquestionably winning his first and only individual OWG medal in 2022 was special. “I would change everything in my life for this. It was the one thing I missed…There was a chance I would never manage it but now I have a medal.”

A few years ago, he reflected on training while getting older. “Sometimes you want to be young again and get better every day. I remember when I came into the team in 2009, it was the same. Each training camp I came a little closer to the best guys on the team; it was like every minute of training you put in; you get back. When you are older, it does not work the same. So, it is pretty much fun seeing the young guys get better, like Sturla (who moved into the Yellow Bib today).”

Tarjei called today, “a really nice day. My wife is here. I got my second victory this season, first here in Antholz.”

Photos: IBU/Yevenko, Nordic Focus

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