Sturla Holm Laegreid snapped Johannes Thingnes Bö away the large crystal ball – also because he recently decoupled himself consistently to avoid potentially fatal infection.
The 28-year-old secured the large crystal ball in the overall World Cup on Saturday with his victory in the persecution at the home World Cup on the Holmenkollen. The key to this was not only running strength and precision at the shooting range, but also consistent self -insulating to be 100 percent fit.
Sturla Holm Laegreid secured the overall World Cup in the biathlon on Saturday
“Everything done to avoid people and illnesses”
In the final sprint of the season, the seven -time world champion decided to decouple from the Norwegian team hotel in order to avoid the risk of infection that could have cost him the decisive points in the duel with Böll.
“I lived alone, cooked my own meal and was no longer in the supermarket since I came home on Monday,” Laegreid told the broadcaster NRK : “I tried to do everything in my power to avoid people and illnesses. Even when I gave autographs yesterday, I wore a face mask, in the event that someone in the grandstand cough a bit.”
A warning example was competitor Bö, who had suffered an infection at the penultimate World Cup in Pokljuka and had to leave prematurely. It is quite possible that it was the decisive difference in the gigantic duel – also with a view to Bös Fitness state in Oslo.
Girlfriend did not see Lächreid for almost two months
For Bö, who already has five large crystal balls in the closet, the lost duel with Laegreid can be devastated: on Saturday he also let that he had felt a self -insulating like that of Laegreid as exaggerated: “In the course of my career, I made balanced than extreme decisions – and there is not much that I have to regret.”
However, Bö also understands that Laegreid showed greater willingness to sacrifice with his first overall World Cup: “It was very smart. I would have done the same thing if I had been in his place. In the hotel in which we have now slept, there was freedom of movement. Many athletes, many ‘normal’ people who live there, an open buffet and everything.”
The fact that Laegreid’s line paid off on Saturday was also a relief for his girlfriend Sandra Arnesen, who had not come too close to her partner for a long time: Laegreid had already distanced himself from Arnesen spatially from Arnesen when preparing for the World Cup in Lenzerheide at the end of January / early February.
After the all -important victory on Saturday there was a thicker hug: “It was a while ago. I don’t even know when it was last,” said Laegreid’s girlfriend.