Biathlete Tarjei Boe Ponders Racing Tour de Ski

Norwegian star biathlete Tarjei Boe got a slow start to the new season, but business is booming.

“I expect to join the team (at Furteventura, in the Canary Islands) in a few days. I was planning to race the Skarverennet, but I got sick,” Boe told the Norwegian newspaper NTB.

The 22-year-old won almost everything he entered last season. Now he’s feeling the pressure. The offers are raining down on Boe.

“There are a lot of offers to consider. Everything from TV appearances, attending various sports events and companies that want me to show up. It’s important to be selective and not run yourself ragged in all this,” Boe explained.

These days, Boe is busy renegotiation his equipment deals and sponsorship contracts. His next training year starts in the middle of May, and Boe admits that he is interested in racing cross-country as well as biathlon.

“My interest in cross-country is no less now than it was this winter. I’d like to measure my speed with the top cross-country skiers again. But the upcoming season is a tricky one. Usually the cross-country skiers aren’t hitting their peak performance until mid-season, but this year, the Tour de Ski is the main focus, and everyone will try to peak earlier. So maybe I’ll have to figure out a way to hit sort of a ‘pre-peak’ early in the season, and then have my main peak for the biathlon World Championships later in the winter,” Boe told NTB.

Last season, several of the Norwegian biathletes were considered for the Norwegian national team to the 2011 World Championships on home turf in Oslo.

The Norwegian cross-country national team was considering these options so seriously that there was a detailed plan for chartering a jet, to fly Boe’s national biathlon teammate Emil Hegle Svendsen from Oslo to Siberia immediately after the relay in Oslo, should he be named to the cross-country relay team.

However, at the last minute, the Norwegian cross-country team filled the relay team with all cross-country skiers. But qualifying for the team remains a goal for Boe heading into the 2011-12 season.

“I will use the prospect of racing cross-country as a motivational factor in my training leading up to the season,” Boe said.

From NTB/HegnarOnline.no, May 3, 2011. Translation by Inge Scheve