Biathlon: the French fly to Sjusjøen, Norway
After Ciboure (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), Corrençon-en-Vercors (Isère), Prémanon (Jura) on two occasions, Sandnes (Norway), Bessans (Savoie ) and Lenzerheide (Switzerland), the French men’s biathlon team heads to Norway this Tuesday for its final training camp of the preparation programme.
While Emilien Jacquelin from Dauphiné has already been in Sjusjøen (Norway) for a few days, Eric Perrot, Quentin Fillon-Maillet, Fabien Claude, Oscar Lombardot and the technical staff led by Simon Fourcade and Jean-Pierre Amat will be arriving in Innlandet County in the next few hours for a meeting organised on the Norwegian snow.
Since the Summer Tour in Arçon (Doubs), which rounded off a three-week period of hypoxia, Les Bleus have had a period of rest with a reduced training load before training at home.
“The aim was to do fairly short intensities to get back into a rhythm, Simon Fourcade explained to Nordic Magazine. Now there’s a bit of excitement about getting back out on the snow because we haven’t done it [since the start of our preparation] unlike the girls in Ramsau.”
The long-awaited return to cross-country skiing
“We’ve spent a lot of time on ski-wheels, so I want to get down to the nitty-gritty on cross-country skis and in competition,” says Quentin Fillon-Maillet from the Jura.
It’s worth noting that this Norwegian training camp will end on 16 and 17 November with a participation in the Norwegian opening races, abandoned since 2021 by the French (who preferred to go to Idre Fjäll in 2022 and Bessans in 2023).
“We made the decision to go up to Norway to take part in races with the best Norwegians and to be up against them before the World Cup, says Simon Fourcade. The aim will be to build up our confidence. They’ll know where they stand two weeks beforehand and that will give them time to remobilise in case things don’t go as they wanted. In any case, they won’t be going to Kontiolahti expecting anything. Given what I’ve seen in the sessions and at Arçon, I don’t think we’ll have much to envy the Norwegians in these opening races.”
Test yourself against the Norwegians in the races at the end of the course
For Quentin Fillon-Maillet, these competitions at Sjusjøen will not be devoid of interest, despite the fact that the sporting stakes are nil on a winter’s scale. “It’s going to be a real mouth-waterer before the season starts, because we’re going to be up against the Norwegians on the best circuit in the world, he notes. We’ll be trying to raise our game. So far, I’m satisfied with the preparation, but I don’t know if it’s good or very good compared to the Norwegians.”
Doubien Oscar Lombardot, who will have to take part in the IBU Cup in Idre Fjäll (Sweden) to validate his World Cup ticket, will be in Norway to complete his preparations.
- Prémanon, Vassieux-en-Vercors, Norway, Lenzerheide, Bessans, Ramsau and Corrençon-en-Vercors: the French team’s summer training programme
- “We’re going to focus on shooting”: the French men’s team kicks off its preparations this Monday in the Basque country, with Les Bleues returning to school next week in Aix-les-Bains.
- The French men’s team continues its preparations at Corrençon-en-Vercors
- Photo album of Les Bleus in training at Prémanon
- With the French team in training at Bessans
- The French team heads to Lenzerheide for a training camp, site of the next World Championships
- The girls on the Ramsau glacier, the boys in hypoxia at Prémanon: before the Arçon Summer Tour, the French team sets off on a training camp (at altitude)
- After Arçon and with 40 days to go before the start of the World Cup, what is the programme for the end of the French team’s preparations?
- Emilien Jacquelin trains in Corrençon-en-Vercors just a few days before heading off to Norway in search of snow
- Before Les Bleus arrive, Sjusjøen opens its first cross-country ski run
- The last two men’s World Cup places will be decided in the sprints at the IBU Cup in Idre Fjäll
