Johannes Thingnes Boe wins gold in men's mass start

Johannes Thingnes Boe celebrates his victory after taking the gold medal in the men's 15km biathlon mass star at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

Johannes Thingnes Boe had a near-perfect run to take the gold at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Friday. The great Norwegian won the men’s 15km mass start at the Zhangjiakou National Biathlon Centre. Martin Ponsilouma of Sweden won the silver medal and Vetie Sjaastad Christiansen joined Boe on the podium for bronze. 

30 men competed for the last medals in biathlon on the 2.5km course with four visits to the range. Quentin Fillon Maillet of France was at the front once more for France along with the Boe brothers from Norway. J.T. Boe led everyone in for the first, but he and a majority of the leaders missed one target. Tarjei Boe went perfect but didn’t get out front into the first position. Coming to the line was Sebastian Samuelsson of Sweden followed by the Gow brothers from Canada in second and third place. 

Tarjei Boe rounded out the top four, but on the second lap, he fell back a little while the Canadian brothers lead the way together. Before entering the range for the second time, everyone was mixed up with J.T. Boe back in the front and Fillon Maillet near him. J.T. Boe went perfectly with Christian Gow coming in second. The Frenchman missed one along with Tarjei who both exited in eighth and ninth respectively. 

In the third shoot, J.T. Boe came in with Philipp Nawrath of Germany. Nawrath missed three times, taking him out of the lead while Sweden’s Martin Ponsiluoma took second. Fillon Maillet went clean to move into third, with one more visit to the range left. Near the ten-kilometer mark, the French biathlete caught up with the Swede, getting back to second to hunt down J.T. Boe. 

The Norwegian came in for the last visit to the range, having a 13 lead before his first shot. He missed two that opened the door for Fillon Maillet or Ponsilouma to overtake him. The French star missed three that blew him off the podium, while the Swede sat 17 seconds back in second. Taking third was Christiansen before Fillon Maillet locked himself into fourth 15 seconds from the bronze position. 

J.T. Boe’s lead was 31 seconds on Ponsilouma, who had Christiansen 30 seconds back. Fillon Maillet was cutting time in his effort to catch the Norwegian. J.T. Boe crossed the line in 38:14.4 with the Swede coming in 40 seconds later. With all his efforts Christiansen held off Fillon Maillet while continuing to look over his shoulder, finishing third.