Johannes Thingnes Boe and Marte Olsbu Roiseland lead Norway to third gold in first single relay

Updated 14/03/2019 at 18:39 GMT

Marte Olsbu Roiseland and Johannes Thingnes Boe led Norway to victory in the mixed single relay on Thursday, their third gold of the Biathlon World Championships.

Johannes Thingnes Boe and Marte Olsbu Roeiseland of Norway celebrate first place in the IBU Biathlon World Championships Single Mixed Relay at Swedish National Biathlon Arena on March 14, 2019 in Ostersund, Sweden.

Image credit: Getty Images

The Single Mixed Relay was being run for the first time at a World Championships with Italy’s Dorothea Wierer and Lukas Hofer winning the most recent World Cup edition of the event last month in Salt Lake City.

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Wierer started really strongly, using just one spare in her first run put the Italian in a strong position.

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However the in-form Boe, who won the 10km Sprint, clawed back that lead and then built up one of his own, finishing 13.4s ahead of Hofer before Roiseland took to the track again.

Wierer and Sweden’s Hanna Oeberg pulled in the Norwegian but they couldn’t build a lead and that gave Boe more than enough to work with.

Boe grabs flag as he cruises to the finish line

The 25-year-old stormed away from the rest of the pack, skiing well and shooting flawlessly.

Afterwards both sets of team-mates were quick to pay tribute to each other.

“We are so happy to be here. I struggled a bit on the range in the first leg, but my last shooting was good. Johannes was really great today!” Roiseland said.