New Norwegian World Championship Medal after Thrilling Finish: ‘Absolutely Awesome’

At Thursday’s World Championships in Lenzerheide, the Norwegian biathlon relay team featuring Ragnhild Femsteinevik and Johannes Thingnes Bø faced a challenging race. Both athletes shot four series each from the prone position. Femsteinevik struggled early on, missing five times during her first two series, though she managed to avoid the penalty loops by using extra rounds. When it came to the exchange, Thingnes Bø started just 32 seconds behind France. After a flawless prone sequence and a standing series that required extra shots to fill the targets, Thingnes Bø emerged as a key factor in narrowing the gap.

Following the final exchange, Thingnes Bø was only three seconds behind Sweden. He then accelerated, finishing his series simultaneously with Sweden’s Sebastian Samuelsson. The pair emerged 20 seconds ahead of the teams from Germany and France. In his concluding standing series, Thingnes Bø again had to resort to extra shots; although this briefly dashed his hopes for gold, his tremendous effort allowed him to overcome an 18‐second deficit to Germany, ensuring a silver medal for Norway while France took the top spot and Germany settled for bronze.

Commenting on the performance, NRK expert Torgeir Bjørn called Thingnes Bø’s second round “absolutely awesome.” The silver medal marked the first World Championship medal of Femsteinevik’s career, while Thingnes Bø’s tally increased to 41. Despite the Norwegian team having to use a total of 15 extra rounds over eight shootings, they managed to avoid any penalty loops throughout the race. With Thursday’s relay adding to their medal haul, Norway now sits with three medals in the championship, as other events including individual races and relays continue over the weekend.