Norway's Boe ends four-year World Cup wait in Oestersund

The 29-year-old Norwegian edged out France’s Martin Fourcade with his time of 22:40.6 just 0.7 seconds quicker than his rival.

German racer Erik Lesser was 3.7 seconds back in third, with all three podium finishers having just a single penalty, while Boe’s teammate and compatriot Emil Hegle Svendsen was 13.3 seconds off the pace and finished fourth.

Boe held a seven-second advantage over Fourcade heading into the final 3.3km loop, but that was cut to just 0.9 seconds with 400m to go, meaning the 2010 Olympic gold medallist had to push hard to hold on.

And after struggling with health issues in previous seasons, Boe admitted he was overwhelmed to finally be back on top of the podium.

“It was a total blackout for me after the finish line,” he said. “It was an incredible fight with Martin and when I was on the lap I saw his last 500m so I knew I had to push.

“It was a relief to see I was on top after I woke up from the dead there. On the track they told me I had a second advantage before the last 500m, but you can never trust those guys on the track, you could be behind when they tell you it's just one second lead.

“It's a mental game for them as well to keep you motivated. I kept telling myself that after the next uphill there was the finish line for every uphill.

“I was so tired, but I had to tell myself to keep pushing. It was a mental game, but it's always a mental game when you compete with big athletes like Martin.”

Two-time Olympic champion Fourcade meanwhile was not too disappointed to miss out by such a narrow margin.

He said: “It was a good biathlon competition today. I have lost many times by less than one second, but I have also won many times as well.

“Yet you never get accustomed to such small margins. Tarjei beat me by 0.9 seconds four years ago, so this is not new to me.”

Sportsbeat 2017