In hist 12th season in the BMW IBU World Cup, Johannes Thingnes Boe will be chasing Ole Einar Bjoerndalen’s six Total Score wins. As the only athlete who won back-to-back seven medals at the BMW IBU World Championships - Oberhof and Nove Mesto na Morave - he will aim for a triple in Lenzerheide. Johannes also reveals why being fully present, at home or in the World Cup, is so important to him and who his main challengers will be as he eyes his sixth Total Score win in the 2024/2025 season.

You won your fifth Total Score title in Canmore last winter. And you said you would chase Ole Einar Bjoerndalen and his six Total Score wins. Is it still on?

It is on: I will go for the Total Score win. Five victories (so far) are good, but you want to try every year. So next on is Ole Einar’s six wins. I want to be the most decorated biathlete - this challenge drives me.

You are the only athlete - women or men - who won a 7/7 medal at the two consecutive World Championships - Oberhof and Nove Mesto. What does it take to stay focused and energised over two weeks?

It is important to be physically and mentally recharged before the World Championships. When you get the first medal, you need to acknowledge it, then forget about it straight away and focus on the next race. And you need to repeat this process for two weeks. There is no room for letting your guard down. It is not easy, but it is the only way. I remember my first-ever individual medal at the World Championships (Kontiolahti 2015). I won in the Sprint and was very happy. I relaxed. And I finished 31st in the Pursuit.

Will you go for a triple 7/7 in Lenzerheide?

With my race-by-race approach in mind - and I am a candidate for a medal in all disciplines - I will go after the third 7/7 in a row at the World Championships in Lenzerheide. That is not Lenzerheide's main goal But - as we saw - is doable with my approach.

You said in Canmore that very few people know how stressful it is to win a Total Score - you can't let your guard down for four months. What do you do daily to sustain an edge over the rest of the field?

I don’t know. I feel I am a very stable athlete. And I push myself especially hard through the winter and make all the right choices. It pays off in the end.

Have you developed a sensor - that lets you know that you have cracked your challengers' will yet again?

Perhaps things are more simple. The will matters a little bit, but the most important thing is how good of an athlete you are. And how many points you win. There is one simple truth in biathlon at the end of the day: the best athlete wins the Total Score.

Your family seems to be your source of inner peace, energy, and motivation. How do you juggle being The Champion and a husband and a father - assuming it takes a different kind of energy to be the best at sport and caring at home?

When I am at home, I try to be 100% present and engaged with my family. And 100% when I am competing. I never want to be in-between. Because then you are not 100% in anything.

Have you taken inspiration from other world sports greats (Roger Federer, Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Phelps)?

You listed great champions for whom I have a lot of respect. But I looked closer, in biathlon. Tarjei (JT's older brother), Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, Emil Hegle Svendsen, and Martin Fourcade are my role models. I admired them and worked hard - I still do - to get to their level and then beat them.

You can streamline focus and energy when it matters the most - at the main events and when the Total Score title is at stake. Is a champion of your caliber born with such a trait, or do you learn it?

Hm. Perhaps you can learn to be a champion. But you are mostly born as a champion. It is an amazing thing. So - I will try and win more.

Who will be your most formidable challenger in 2024/2025?

My teammates. Sure, Swedish guys are strong. French will come back. The Germans are dangerous when in form. But we saw last season: it is the Norwegians who will be pushing me the hardest.