Biathlon: the French are back on their cross-country skis in Ramsau
On Tuesday, the biathletes in the French women’s team made the long journey by minibus to Ramsau (Austria), the venue for a new training camp scheduled to run until 17 October. Group B, Julia Simon, Jeanne Richard, Océane Michelon and Lou Jeanmonnot were all present, but Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, who has decided to train with her family in Bessans (Savoie), did not take part.
The objectives of these ten days in Austria are manifold. “I used to go there a lot with the cross-country skiers. This is the third time we’ve been to Ramsau with the girls,” Cyril Burdet, the group’s coach, told Nordic Magazine. It’s a site I particularly like, where I find there’s a really interesting variety of training for this time of year. It makes for some really good days out.
The main attraction of this gathering is the presence of the Dachstein glacier, where it recently snowed and where Les Bleues will be putting their cross-country skis back on. “ We won’t necessarily be going up there every day, but we’ve still planned to make the most of our trip there to practise on the snow,” explains the Savoyard coach.
Skiing is not the number one motivation for going there,” adds Stéphane Bouthiaux, director of the French biathlon teams. There will be very low intensity skiing in the morning to get back in touch with the snow, but only if the conditions are right. Specific training on skis and wheels will then take place in the afternoon at the stadium.
“The other objective is to do a lot of high-intensity work on the ski/wheel track”.
A programme confirmed by Cyril Burdet : “We’re entering the final preparation phase, so the other objective is to do a fair amount of high-intensity work on the ski/wheel track and an internal time trial in the second week once everyone is acclimatised and we’ve settled in.
Although the World Cup will resume in less than two months’ time in Östersund (Sweden), the French coach has no intention of putting any pressure on his squad just yet.
We’re still far enough away not to get too worked up,” he says. There were some fairly pronounced states of fatigue in September, but they were mainly caused by the effects of the work. We’ve still got time to sort all that out, but we’re entering the home straight with specific work starting to be more linked to competition. The times will become more important benchmarks.
In fact, on the weekend of 19 October, this course will end with the Loop One Festival in Munich (Germany), while the members of Group B will be taking part in the Summer Tour in La Féclaz (Savoie). ” The advantage of being in Ramsau is that we’re only a two-hour drive from Munich,” concludes Cyril Burdet.
- The men gather at Font-Romeu, the women head to Ramsau to get back in the snow: the French team kicks off its penultimate training camp of the preparation period
- “She chose to stay with her family for the month of October”: no training camp in Ramsau for Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, currently in Bessans
