With Sturla Holm Laegreid's chances (very) slim even before he contracted C-19, his absence from the Oestersund Individual means that JT Boe won the BMW IBU World Cup Total Score for the fourth time. It is a fitting crowning for an extraordinary display of excellence that Johannes showed week-in-week-out this season.

Team Sweden, who won 11 medals at the BMW IBU World Championships Oberhof 2023, a record for their country, will feel good about their chances in Oestersund with one big minus: Sebastian Samuelsson has also contracted C-19 and will not compete. Individual Cup Score is now wide open in both fields.

JT Boe crowns a season like no other

With Sturla Holm Laegreid and JT Boe out of the Oestersund Individual, the fight for the BMW IBU World Cup Total Score is officially over. Boe has a 399 points lead over Laegreid, and even if both were to participate in the Mass start on Sunday, there are only 360 up for grabs until the end of the season. It is Johannes's fourth Total Score triumph as he joins Raphael Poiree in the joint third place on the all-time list of winners. Martin Fourcade won seven Total Score titles and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen six.

Sweden will feel confident in Oestersund

After a remarkable 11 medals at the BMW IBU World Championships Oberhof 2023, team Sweden will feel confident in the venue they know inside out. Hanna Oeberg won her career-defining Gold medal in the Individual in Oestersund 2019 and added another Sprint victory last season. As a World champion in both disciplines, Hanna will fancy her chances in the Individual and Mass start. Martin Ponsiluoma is the highest-ranked non-Norwegian in the Total Score standings in fifth place. His shape stayed sharp in Nove Mesto na Morave. With his confidence at an all-time high, he might earn himself a first-ever podium in Oestersund.

Hartweg with a big chance in the Individual

With JT Boe and Sturla Holm Laegreid skipping the Individual competition in Oestersund - the last of the season - Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen, Niklas Hartweg, and Martin Ponsiluoma - have a big chance to capture the Individual Cup Score. Christiansen has 111 points from the first two Individuals of the winter, Hartweg 105, and Ponsiluoma 98. If any of these three men win in Oestersund, the Cup is theirs. Christiansen (shooting accuracy 84%) will feel the pressure of tremendous opportunity, Ponsiluoma (shooting accuracy 75 %) of the home event, while Hartweg (shooting accuracy 88%) knows how to seize the moment when no one is noticing.

Women's Individual Cup Score up for grabs

Just 15 points separate the winners of this season's Individuals in the BMW World cup, Lisa Vittozzi and Hanna Oeberg, before Oestersund's showdown. Vittozzi has 150 points, and the World champion Oeberg has 135. High-flying Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, currently at 111 points, will also like her chances should Vittozzi and Oeberg squander their chance. Julia Simon has 105 and Lou Jeanmonnot 104 points. They, too, will wait for any opening.