Johannes Thingnes Bø is a Norwegian biathlete who scooped up the gold medal at the Biathlon World Cup in both the 2018/19 and 2019/20 seasons. He currently stands as the World Cup’s third most successful male biathlete of all time, with an immense 48 individual World Cup victories under his belt, which include victories at the Winter Olympic Games.
Thingnes Bø is celebrated for his quick skiing, which was unquestionably his biggest strength in his early career. However, recent years have seen Thingnes Bø’s shooting accuracy improve drastically, with his ski speed also elevating to new heights. Such developments have marked him as the dominant biathlete for the last two seasons in the men’s World Cup.
Thingnes Bø’s early career saw immediate success, winning several international medals in the 2010–2012 season. In 2012 he became a junior world champion for the third time and the same year was drafted for the Norwegian senior National Team at just 18 years of age, simultaneously becoming one of the youngest Norwegians ever to do so. In the 2012/13 season Thingnes Bø made his world cup debut, competing alongside his older brother Tarjei Bø and many other esteemed athletes.
In the 2014/15 season, Johannes became a world champion for the first time after winning the sprint race in Kontiolahti. He also won two other races that season and finished fifth in the overall World Cup. For the seasons that ensued, Thingnes Bø won 8 out of the first 14 World Cup races in the 2017/2018 season. More recently in the 2019/2020 season, he became the most successful male athlete at the World Championships, scooping an impressive six medals in total, firming his place as a hugely dedicated and unstoppable force in biathlon.