Biathlon: the Vosges Elite Ski Team was formed last spring, and Amandine Mengin took advantage of the opportunity
Last spring, the biathlon and cross-country skiing commissions of the Massif des Vosges ski committee joined forces to create the Vosges Elite Ski Team. Until then, there had been no structure for Vosges Nordic skiers after the baccalauréat. So Martin Botet and Corentin Jacob had to move to Savoie.
“We thought it was an aberration that our athletes didn’t have access to quality coaching once they had passed the baccalaureate. It was a major weakness of our committee, with young people having to fend for themselves,”Cédric Larché, chairman of the biathlon commission of the Massif des Vosges ski committee, tells Nordic Magazine . It was obvious that we had a hole in the snowshoe. There was an anomaly and we had to do something about it.
Among the athletes affected by this anomaly is biathlete Amandine Mengin, currently on fire on the IBU Cup circuit. “Last year, I trained very much on my own for the whole season, or just with Maëla Correia in Chambéry. It was just the two of us, all the time, and we didn’t necessarily get direct feedback,” she regrets.
Pooling resources between cross-country skiing and biathlon
So in the spring, Léo Ponceot, coach of the Vosges cross-country skiers, pointed out to his superiors that some cross-country skiers were on one side and some biathletes on the other. His aim? To create a common dynamic within a new team.
“What prompted us to do this was the pooling of resources. We have a high-performance coach and, as the biathlon is lacking at that level, it’s a collaboration that comes at just the right time,” says Frédéric Colin, chairman of the cross-country skiing committee. We’ve found people around us, like Véronique Claudel on the biathlon side, to reinforce the whole thing.
For Léo Ponceot, having a shooting coach was a prerequisite: “I thought I’d like to work with Véronique [Claudel]. Cédric [Larché] took the plunge and it didn’t take her long to think about it. That’s how the 1992 Olympic relay champion came on board.
The “considerable contribution” of Véronique Claudel
“She’s a passionate person, but one who wants to be discreet and stay in the background. That’s a huge asset,” says a delighted Cédric Larché. ” With her, we focus on details that are important and can change the outcome of a shot,” says Amandine Mengin.
Throughout the summer, the Vosges Elite Ski Team trained around La Bresse (Vosges), but also took part in several training courses: at the end of June in Prémanon (Jura), in July in Bessans (Savoie), in September in Livigno (Italy), in Prémanon in hypoxia in October then on snow in Livigno and Bessans in November.
It was an ideal programme, according to Amandine Mengin: “It revitalised my training. Having spent the whole summer in the Vosges with constant feedback, it was much more positive. It’s a radical change,” she says. Physically, there’s no comparison. I can really see the difference and the progress. In shooting too. It’s all positive!
And so it was that, after preparing with this new training group, the Bressaude broke through one glass ceiling after another at supersonic speed.
The composition of the Vosges Elite Ski Team
Biathlon
- Guillaume Poirot 🇫🇷
- Marius Remy 🇫🇷
- Maëla Correia 🇫🇷
- Juliane Jacob 🇫🇷
- Amandine Mengin 🇫🇷
Cross-country skiing
- Léo Leuenberger 🇫🇷
- Pierre Jan 🇫🇷
- Robin Berjoan 🇫🇷
- Mattéo Correia 🇫🇷
- Noah Carru 🇫🇷
- Paul Schlussel 🇫🇷
- Valentin Berna 🇫🇷
- Vosgienne Amandine Mengin, France’s new U22 summer champion, talks about the progress she has made to get this far: “I’m gaining a lot of confidence in myself”.
- “I’ve made a lot of progress and I’m proud of myself”: this week, Amandine Mengin from Bresse will be taking part in her first IBU Cup in Arber.
- “I’m completely shocked”: Amandine Mengin, unexpected winner of the IBU Cup sprint in Arber, tells Nordic Magazine
- Martell-Val Martello: Bresse’s Amandine Mengin finishes runner-up in the European sprint behind Sweden’s Anna-Karin Heijdenberg
