Stats of the week - Pokljuka

JT Boe started his run of 16 wins in the record-breaking 2018/2019 season with a Sprint-Pursuit double in Pokljuka. But Sturla Holm Laegreid will feel as comfortable as Johannes as the BMW IBU World Cup resumes after the Christmas break, as he collected four gold medals - including the Individual and Mass start - at the IBU World Championships Pokljuka 2021.

Can Boe go 4/4 in the Sprint?

JT won five times in Trimester 1 and, perhaps the most important for his self-confidence, took all three sprints. As the BMW IBU World Cup resumes in Pokljuka, Johannes has a chance to string together four consecutive Sprint wins, a new milestone for even a champion of his achievements.

What Laegreid needs to do

Sturla Holm Laegreid is challenging the Total Score leader JT Boe shot for shot, meter for a meter. A quick look in the stats shows that both leading men shot with 89% accuracy in Trimester 1, and JT skied 2% faster (which roughly translates into one penalty loop advantage in the Sprint). Laegreid shot with 99% accuracy vs. Johannes’s 93%. But Johannes built much of the 34 points difference in the standing, with 85% accuracy vs. Sturla’s 80%. Laegreid thus needs to clear one target more (on average) in the standing stages to gain an edge in the mighty yellow bib battle with Boe.

French Single Mixed Relays thrive in Pokljuka

Anais Bescond and Emilien Jacquelin won the Single Mixed Relay in the BMW IBU World 2019/2020 season. Julia Simon and Antoine Guigonnat achieved the gold medal in the same discipline at the IBU World Championships 2021 in Pokljuka. France will hope to make three Single Mixed Relays wins in a row on the coming Sunday.

Pokljuka has been a good place for Wierer, but . . .

Denise Herrmann-Wick, Hanna Oeberg, Marketa Davidova, and Lisa Theresa Hauser ended Trimester 1 in the Top 10 in the Total Score standings. Each of them also has one World Cup win in Pokljuka. Dorothea Wierer, currently 10th in the Total Score, is yet to win in Slovenia but has collected four podiums, more than any other active woman.