The five-time Olympic champion, Martin Fourcade won this Saturday 14th March 2020 during the pursuit of Kontiolahti against the Norwegian Johannes Boe.
Martin Fourcade said goodbye to biathlon on Saturday 14th March 2020 on a victory in the pursuit of Kontiolahti, but he did not manage to reverse the situation in the general classification, finishing 2nd in the World Cup behind the Norwegian Johannes Boe, winner of the big crystal globe for the 2nd consecutive year.
83rd and final success
The five-time Olympic champion (31 years), who announced Friday the end of his career at the end of this race, and leaves the scene of a 83rd success in the World Cup before two other French, Quentin Fillon Maillet and Emilien Jacquelin.
Boe has assured him his second coronation in 26 years by taking the 4th place of the last test of the winter.
In search of an Eighth big crystal globe, Fourcade was forced to complete the perfect race to make up 19 points behind Boe. He passed close to the feat, ultimately falling two short lengths of the Norwegian in the final World Cup standings.
Violent wind
Starting in 2nd position, 21 seconds after Boe, victorious in the sprint Thursday, the French collaborated well with Jacquelin and took advantage of the many mistakes of his shooting rival (4 in total) to quickly take control.
Despite the rifle waste (3 faults) due to a violent wind on the launch pad throughout the event, Fourcade managed to stay ahead to end his life as a biathlete in style.
Dernière course… et dernier succès pour Martin Fourcade ! Au revoir, légende 🙌 #ChaletClub
En revanche, Johannes Boe s’adjuge le gros globe 👉 https://t.co/FUsRe4WRIj pic.twitter.com/OOCfVpe8pw
— Eurosport.fr (@Eurosport_FR) March 14, 2020
Exceptional prize list
The season was originally scheduled to end in Oslo from March 20th – 22nd, but the three races scheduled in Norway have been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Fourcade did not win 8th big crystal globe, but he goes head high, holding an outstanding track record.
The most successful French sportsman at the Olympic Games (5 gold medals), he has the record for the number of World Cups won (7 in a row from 2012 to 2018), small globes (26) and world titles (11 on an individual level, tied with the Norwegian Ole-Einar Bjoerndalen).
Candidate for the IOC Athletes’ Commission
After a nightmarish 2018-2019 season, he managed to come back to the fore in an attempt to challenge the dominance of Johannes Boe. Even if the 26-year-old Norwegian has been an exemplary regularity this season (10 wins), Fourcade will have resisted him to the end, ending the winter on a total of seven successes, with the bonus of two new gold medals worldwide (Individual, relay).
Fourcade has become over the years a major figure in French sport thanks to his exploits but also to his strong positions, especially on the subject of doping.
He was the standard bearer of the tricolor delegation to the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018 before setting foot in the proceedings. He chairs the Paris-2024 Athletes ‘Commission and applied for the IOC Athletes’ Commission in 2022 .
