Sturla Holm Lægreid is one of the world’s most accurate biathletes, and Martin Uldal is among the fastest. None of them came close to Sivert Bjørndalen in his season debut.

The 23-year-old from Norway shot through the final of the shooting duel at the Blink Festival in just 11.3 seconds under highly unstable wind conditions. Sturla Holm Lægreid was the closest competitor, nearly three seconds behind, while Martin Uldal trailed by six seconds.

In the super duel against the winner of the women’s final shortly after, Sivert Bjørndalen won by over 20 seconds against Océane Michelon, who secured two individual golds at the Winter Olympics this past winter.

“I have always been good at shooting since I was little. So, shooting duels are fun. It’s a bit like Lucky Luke,” he told Langrenn.com.

But Sivert Bjørndalen is not just any 23-year-old. The light-haired athlete from Simostranda is the son of former World Champion Dag Bjørndalen and the nephew of Ole Einar Bjørndalen. He made good use of this legacy during his exhibition victory in the shooting duel at Blink.

“Dad was behind me with the scope throughout the competition, and we talked between each heat,” said the biathlon talent.

“He is my shooting coach normally. He has been since I started with biathlon. We have a good dynamic and understand each other very well. He sees what I do wrong before I even realize it.”

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How did victory feel in the moment? 

“It was really cool, simply put. The level is absolutely insane, and in the biathlon races I have competed in against the elite guys, they have been a notch better. But in the shooting duel, something clicked in my head. I thought, here I have a slight advantage, and I decided that I wanted this victory,” Bjørndalen said.

He noted that the pressure surrounding the shooting duel can easily overwhelm even the best.

“In the shooting duel at Blink last year, I started to shake and tremble in my legs during the semifinal,” he recalled.

And that was exactly what happened to the French biathlon star.

“It’s impressive. It’s very mentally demanding, and my legs were shaking,” said Michelon.

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This is not the first time the shooting duel at the Blink festival has served as a springboard for a young Norwegian talent.

Two years ago, Martin Uldal, then 23, was making waves against the world elite in the same competition. He is now a regular member of the Norwegian elite national team and won Olympic silver this winter.

Also Read: Fastest men on the shooting range

Aiming for the World Championships

Bjørndalen has yet to achieve a major breakthrough as a senior. His best individual placement in the Norwegian Cup is a ninth place, along with a bronze in the NM relay in April.

Now he wants to compete internationally, aiming for the World Championships in Holmenkollen in 2029. To get there, he has laid out a plan.

“The next step is to move up to the IBU Cup and compete internationally. I see that I have the level to compete there. But I won’t quit even if I don’t get to participate in the IBU Cup this winter,” Bjørndalen stated.

“That’s one of the interesting aspects of biathlon. You can have the physical level but struggle mentally at the shooting range, and then you end up far down the list. Other athletes who may have a bit to improve physically but are mentally tough and excel in competition can rise significantly. I have worked a lot on my mental game and feel I have made considerable progress there, but I still need to improve in the tracks to truly establish myself at the top.”

Building step by step

While his father Dag serves as his shooting coach and uncle Ole Einar provides guidance, the coaches at Team Geilo are responsible for Sivert Bjørndalen’s physical training.

And he knows exactly where he needs to improve.

“I need to train on skiing faster. My capacity needs to increase,” he said.

“I will continue training as I have been. I am making progress all the time, and I see that my capacity has increased. Tests from the last two years show that my oxygen uptake is improving. So, I just have to push on and see what my body can handle.”

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Knows who he wants to learn from

Interestingly, it is not uncle Ole Einar who is Bjørndalen’s biggest role model. That honor goes to another Norwegian veteran: the 33-year-old who won the remaining biathlon competitions at this year’s Blink festival.

“I really look up to Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen. I attended NTG Geilo, and it was very cool to train there knowing he had trained on the same tracks,” Bjørndalen said, continuing:

“The first meeting I had with Vetle was in the classroom, where we watched videos from the World Championships in Östersund where Vetle shot clean and secured the gold. That’s a moment I remember, and I thought Vetle was really cool. He’s tough mentally,” Bjørndalen added.

What about Olympic and World Cup winner Eric Perrot? 

“Perrot is a mysterious and exciting character. When he gets a bib number on, he just goes so incredibly fast, and his competitive instinct is something else. He has a knack for talking himself up and seeing the positive in everything,” Sivert Bjørndalen said with a smile.

“He came up to me after I won the shooting duel and said that “we” won because I secured the victory for the guys against the women – thus taking some of the credit for himself.”

Read More – Tough lessons at Blink: “I have things to learn”

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