Biathlon : Amandine Mengin’s fabulous winter continues
This winter, the revelation of French biathlon comes from the Vosges. While Jeanne Richard and Océane Michelon have put in some fine performances on the World Cup circuit, it is the Bresse native Amandine Mengin who is revealing herself more and more with each passing week.
A strong performer in the Junior Cup in December, after passing through the French Cup, she discovered the IBU Cup at the start of January. An immediate success on this circuit , with two victories and another podium finish in Arber (Germany), she achieved new feats this week at the European Championships in Martell-Val Martello (Italy).
Fourth and best French woman in the individual event on Wednesday, she did even better on Friday , taking silver in the sprint. I still have the same problem, I don’t realise it,” she explained to Nordic Magazine with a laugh. I didn’t come here with any particular objectives, so I’ll take what I can get. I’m so happy, but I can’t explain what’s going on… I’m proud of what I’ve achieved, but I don’t realise it yet.
Only fortieth after lying down
To explain the state of grace in which she finds herself, Amandine Mengin looks at the “accumulation of confidence”.
It does me a world of good to see that I’m managing to put in some great races and to be at such a high level,” she adds. I’m always on cloud nine even though I’m on a circuit I know very little about. I’m just enjoying myself. I’m discovering new sites, new shooting ranges, new ways of managing races, lots of things. The individual event, for example, was something completely new to me – I’d never done a 15 km race in my life!
Returning to her sprint, the Vosges native got things off to a bad start with a fault on her downhill shot. It was a mistake that pushed the future European vice-champion down the rankings to fortieth place.
On the second shot, I knew I had no choice but to fill up because a 9/10 could make for a great race,” she says. Surprisingly, I arrived at the stand very serene. I didn’t tremble, I didn’t recover and I just followed my balls normally. I’m really pleased with that! Back in contention for the medal before the final round of cross-country skiing, Amandine Mengin let her hair down.
One last crazy lap
“Lately, I’ve noticed that I’m capable of making up some ground at the end of the race and hanging on, so that’s what I did. I had the information and I knew that there were places not far ahead. I hung on right to the end and fortunately, I put my foot down”, she said as she took the silver by a tenth from Latvia’s Baiba Bendika.
Starting at 11am on Saturday, Amandine Mengin will once again be looking to confirm her current fine form in the pursuit. “It’s going to be a tough one because, apart from the first woman, we’re all on a tight schedule. It’s all going to come down to shooting and that’s going to be really interesting”, she says.
- The full programme for the Martell-Val Martello European Championships, the sixth leg of the 2024/2025 IBU Cup
- IBU Cup: the French selection for the European Championships at Martell-Val Martello
- IBU Cup: the Italian selection for the European Championships at Martell-Val Martello
- IBU Cup: thirteen Austrians at the European Championships in Martell-Val Martello
- IBU Cup: Germany with a strong showing at the European Championships in Martell-Val Martello
- IBU Cup: the impressive Norwegian squad for the European Championships at Martell-Val Martello
- Martell-Val Martello: Germany’s Johanna Puff individual European champion, Amandine Mengin fourth
- Martell-Val Martello: Isak Frey takes the individual continental title, Oscar Lombardot best Frenchman
- “I decided to stay cool before every shot”: Fredrik Muehlbacher, the surprise guest on the podium of the European Championships individual event
- Martell-Val Martello: Bresse’s Amandine Mengin finishes runner-up in the European sprint behind Sweden’s Anna-Karin Heijdenberg
- “It’s absolutely incredible”: the joy of Anna-Karin Heijdenberg, crowned European sprint champion at Martell-Val Martello
- “This track suits me perfectly”: bronze in the sprint at the European Championships, a bright spot in the season for Latvia’s Baiba Bendika
- Martell-Val Martello: Sivert Guttorm Bakken becomes European sprint champion ahead of Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen, Théo Guiraud-Poillot in the top 10
- “This victory means a lot”: European sprint champion at Martell-Val Martello, Sivert Guttorm Bakken savours his return to the summit
