Norwegian biathlon star Johannes Thingnes Bø eased to a fifth World Cup title on Saturday by dominating yet again in the Canadian resort of Canmore.
He had three misses in the 12.5 kilometre pursuit but such was his lead from winning Friday's sprint, it did not matter as the 30-year-old completed the course in 34 minutes 38.0 seconds. Sweden's Sebastian Samuelsson was second, 11.2 seconds adrift
Overall, Bø just needed to beat his older brother Tarjei, who finished fifth, to claim glory for a second straight year. Sunday's mass start - the season finale - will now be a victory lap for the sport's big star, who leads by an unassailable 137 points.
"It tastes really good. It's a tough task to fight for the yellow jersey," the champion, also the pursuit discipline winner, told NRK.
"It's a mental game and to come out victorious is a fantastic feeling."
In the women's competition, Italian biathlete Lisa Vittozzi seized the leader's yellow jersey from Norway's Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold after winning the final 10km pursuit of the season.
Vittozzi won Thursday's sprint and held on to claim the pursuit, benefitting from her Norwegian rival only finishing 19th and slipping 61 points behind with just Sunday's deciding mass start left this season.
"I tried to stay focused on my work, even if I was a little bit nervous this morning," Vittozzi said. "But I managed the pressure in the right way. I am really happy.”
The Italian also snatched the small crystal globe for the discipline classification from Julia Simon for the first time. The Frenchwoman had been leading in the pursuit World Cup and would have sealed the honour by finishing second.
However, last season's overall World Cup winner managed just fourth, meaning Vittozzi ended up 14 points ahead in the standings.
The 29-year-old Vittozzi missed only once on her last visit to the range to win in 28:15.9, 12.2 seconds ahead of France's Lou Jeanmonnot in the Canadian Rockies.
