Over the last few weeks I’ve talked on social media and on the podcast about how the peak form that Sturla Holm Lægreid showed over the last month was the best biathlon we saw from any individual athlete this season. But….at the end of the day he’s not defending his title is he? Why is that?
Because the Overall Globe doesn’t go to who had the best peak, it goes to who was the best week in and week out. The Overall Globe goes to the man or woman who simply put was the best athletes all season long. Not for 1 month. But all season.
In some seasons the man with this highest peak is the the man who also was the best all season long. That’s how Johannes Thingnes Bø and Martin Fourcade won the bulk of their combined 12 Overall Globes. Just think back to JT Bø in 2022-2023 or 2023-2024 when his peak form was untouchable. Or Martin Fourcade in 2016-2017 when he won 14 races.
But it’s not always the way it goes. There are examples like Kaisa Makarainen in the 2017-2018 season. She actually accumulated fewer total points than Anastasiya Kuzmina and Darya Domracheva but won the Overall thanks to the old system with dropped scores. That season Makarainen had just two wins and seven podiums, less than both Kuzmina and Domracheva in both regards. At the end of the day though she consistently performed at a high level throughout the season and in Tyumen that season it was Makarainen raising the Globe rather than the other two.
This season we were blessed to see four men throw down an effort at different points of the season that, at the time, appeared to be their declaration of the man with highest peak and the push for the Overall crown.
Trimester 1 – The Johan-Olav Botn Surprise
I think we’ll all remember the 1st trimester as Johan-Olav Botn’s time. In the first eight races he finished no worse than 5th. Yes, in a season with all of these amazing contenders Botn displayed not only an incredible ceiling but a remarkably high floor. He won the 1st two races of the season in Östersund and never looked back. He accumulated three wins and five podiums and exited for that fateful holiday break with a 113 point lead over Eric Perrot.
It really was a remarkable month of racing. We have all known for years that Botn is an absolutely incredible skier. He would go stretches on the IBU Cup where he was nearly untouchable. His ski ranks the last three seasons on the IBU Cup (where he was primarily competing) 3.6, 1.0, and 3.9. Just ridiculous stuff.
Of course, with that skiing, the reason he wasn’t on the World Cup already was because of his inconsistent shooting. In those same seasons he hit 83.3%, 80.5% before showing signs of promise last season while hitting 86.8%.
This season he continued to ski exceptionally well with an average ski ranks of 5.7 and running 4.4% faster than median, good enough for 3rd best overall skiing on the season. That lines up almost exactly with his skiing of the 1st trimester. The difference for Botn in 2025-2026 and especially the first trimester was his shooting. He hit 90.8% for the season including a ridiculous 96.1%.
In trimester 1 Johan-Olav Botn was the man. Unfortunately this year it just wasn’t meant to be. He ultimately missed two weekends to start the second trimester due to illness as well as the mentally and emotionally grappling with the tragic loss of his good friend Sivert Bakken and everything that went along with that.
Trimester 2 pt 1 – Tommy Giacomel Takes Over
Tommaso Giacomel had a solid first trimester including finishing the trimester with the 3rd highest point total. With Johan-Olav Botn not racing in Oberhof Tommaso Giacomel was ready to fill the void. He came out on fire and won three of four races in Oberhof and Ruhpolding. The one race he didn’t win he finished in 2nd place. It was clear at that moment that Giacomel was the man to beat.
During those four races Tommaso Giacomel wasn’t even perfect. To be fair, the conditions, particularly in the Oberhof Pursuit were fairly brutal. He was able to win with 6 misses while the other two men on the podium that day, Martin Uldal and Sebastian Samuelsson had four and six misses each. But over those first four races of the second trimester he had a stranglehold on the field.
Trimester 2 pt 2 – Eric Perrot’s Peak
While obviously good throughout the season, Eric Perrot hit his performance peak in the races right before the 2026 Olympic Games. He finished 2nd in the Pursuit in Ruhpolding before winning both the Short Individual and the Mass Start in Nove Mesto. And while Sturla Holm Lægreid was not present in Czechia, Tommy Giacomel, an on form Sebastian Samuelsson, and Tommaso Giacomel were all there contesting the races. Not to mention Perrot’s own teammates Quentin Fillon Maillet and Emilien Jacquelin who were surging at that moment.
In these races he was excellent. He skied very well. Actually better than the statistics represent because he was able to take his foot off the gas late in the Pursuit and Mass Starts. He hit 40/40 targets in the races in Nove Mesto where he really flexed his muscle.
In the Short Individual he won 41 seconds over Emilien Jacquelin and 54 seconds over Lukas Hofer, each of whom were perfect on the range as well. He was just blasting away on the course. In the Mass Start he just outlasted everybody on the range. The only man who was holding with him was Campbell Wright who admitted later than he had to tell him on the 4th lap that he had to pull through because there was no way he could take over pacing.
In these two races where were his top contenders? Giacomel finished a respectable 10th in the Short Individual and then 11th in the Mass Start. Samuelsson, at that time surging in the Overall contest, finished 73rd in the Short Individual and 13th in the Mass Start. Johan-Olav Botn, making his return to the World Cup, finished 12th or 7th.
After the Olympics, which saw Tommaso Giacomel sadly have to step away from the World Cup due to health reasons, Eric Perrot more or less clinched his Overall Globe campaign with his race of the season. The Individual in Konthiolahti was absolutely beautiful racing. It was really a 3 man race between Lægreid in bib 50, Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen in bib 56, and Perrot in bib 60. This is important because of how the race played out. By this point, they knew they were going to have to be perfect considering the good shooting earlier in the race. Lægreid led the way hitting 5/5 every time he hit the mat. Prone. Standing. Prone. Standing. He was absolutely perfect putting the pressure on Christiansen. Christiansen then matched the shooting to raise the pressure on Perrot. If Perrot wanted the win he HAD to hit 20/20. Knowing the situation, and not to mention putting up the 2nd best course time of the day, Perrot matched those two strong Norwegians shot for shot. It was an absolutely brilliant performance.
It was the race of the 2025-2026 season for Eric Perrot. At that moment those 90 points more or less pushed his lead too far out for anybody to reasonably catch him. But it was also the manner of the victory, understanding the moment and rising to it time after time as he hit the range. Absolutely no fear of the stakes. And to then raise the pressure on Lægreid and Christiansen by out skiing them significantly to prove that yes, I can match you, but can you match me? And the answer? Nope, they couldn’t match him. Eric Perrot won the battle of the Individual in Kontiolahti and more or less wrapped up the war for the Overall that day.
Trimester 3 – Sturla Holm Lægreid Reminds Us
Then came the Olympics and Trimester 3 which was the Sturla Holm Lægreid show. Conspicuously absent from the Overall Globe competition this season, Lægreid was pretty clear that his intention this season was to aim for a peak at the Olympics above all else. If that meant that he was still in the Overall Globe competition then all the better, but the Olympics were goal #1, #2 and #3. It’s fair to say, that while the road was not always smooth, he achieved an astronomical peak late in the season.
From the Olympics through the last race of the season, a stretch of 11 races, Lægreid finished off the podium a grand total of 1 time. That race was the final race of the season when he finished all the way down in 4th place. Lægreid entered the Olympics with 0 podiums all season. He ended the season with 10, 2nd most of the season. He had 0 wins but ultimately put together a streak of 5 straight wins from the Kontiolahti Mass Start through the Holmenkollen Pursuit.
It wasn’t just the results, it was the way he did it. During this run Sturla Holm Lægreid simply shot the lights out. Across 11 races and 190 shots he had 7 misses. That’s 7 total misses. He was 183 of 190 from the Individual in Antholz through the Mass Start in Holmenkollen, a stunning 96.3%.
He also was skiing on a level that was simply remarkable. His “worst” ski rank over those 11 races was 8th. He was top 3 in course time rank 6 of the 11 races. He ran 4.9% faster than median over that stretch. For comparison, for the season Martin Ponsiluoma was the top man from beginning to end running 4.6% faster than median. This was just a remarkable show of strength.
And the way the races were competed backed that up. There were several races in the midst of this mind blowing run that felt over before they were half finished. The thought of Lægreid making the critical mistake to allow the field back into it just unthinkable. Take, for example the Otepaa Men’s Pursuit. Sure, he started out with an advantage. But it wasn’t a massive one. He started with 10 seconds in hand over Emilien Jacquelin and 12 men started within 1:00. But by the 3rd shoot the race was practically over as Lægreid had built a staggering 56 second lead over Jacquelin in 2nd and 1:40 over Sebastian Samuelsson in 3rd. Ultimately Lægreid cruised home to a simply stunning 2:33 second win which is now the biggest Pursuit win by a man in World Cup biathlon history.
By the end of this wild run Sturla Holm Lægreid climbed from 12th in the Overall to 2nd. In the final trimester Lægreid averaged 82.8 points per race. Just a reminder but you score 90 points for a win. He scored 50 points less than the maximum available. There was absolutely no doubt who was the top man in the final trimester. And yet…
The Overall Champion – Eric Perrot
There were four men who at a given point could claim to be the best man at that moment. But when it came down to the close of the season the Overall Globe race really wasn’t all that close. How did Eric Perrot surge away?
Well let’s acknowledge the elephant in the room. His chief competitors did miss some races. And in the current scoring system you can no longer drop races so this becomes harder to overcome.
– #2 Overall Sturla Holm Lægreid missed 4 total races
– #3 Overall Johan-Olav Botn missed 4 races
– #6 Overall Tommaso Giacomel missed 7 races
But while acknowledging that let’s be honest about the situation. Eric Perrot WON the Overall. This was not a gift. He won this thing:
– 4 wins (1 behind Lægreid and Botn)
– 12 podiums (most)
– 16 top 5’s (most)
– 22 top 10’s (most)
He also, crucially, figured 1st in most pts per World Cup race:
– Perrot: 60.1 pts/race
– Lægreid: 57.9
– Botn: 56.94
– Giacomel: 56.93
Yes, I know what argument comes next. Not all races are created equal. There were moments when Lægreid and Botn were recovering form while Perrot was mostly healthy all season. But that’s part of the game.
Ultimately it comes back to the question we posed at the top of this piece: How do you win the Overall? You win the Overall by not only performing consistently but racing consistently. That’s what Eric Perrot did this season. He raced every race there was to race. He didn’t miss a single race, not even when he had a minor cold or was feeling exhausted. He raced and put up points. And when he did race his finishes were almost always good.
The last case for Eric Perrot being a great 2025-2026 champion? Throughout the weekend in Oslo-Holmenkollen, the defending Globe holder repeatedly acknowledged Perrot’s Overall victory. Most pointedly he pointed to Perrot’s Yellow/Red Pursuit bib following their sprint to the line in that race. In interviews, including ours, he mentioned his desire to take back to the Overall next year but repeatedly heaped praise on Perrot’s performance this season. He was quite clear: Eric Perrot was the deserving and worthy champion of the Overall Globe.
And maybe that’s the final ingredient: You win the Overall by proving to your top competitors race after race, week after race, month after month, that you are the man to beat. That you are the standard bearer. That you are the Overall Champion. That’s how you win the Overall Globe.