Biathlon: Jeanne Richard, Lou Jeanmonnot, Océane Michelon and Julia Simon third in the Antholz relay
At the start of the women’s biathlon world cup relay in Antholz (Italy), France was the overwhelming favourite. Reigning world champions in the speciality, Les Bleues have not ceased to impress since the start of the week at the future Olympic venue of the Südtirol Arena.
Along with Jeanne Richard, Lou Jeanmonnot, Océane Michelon and Julia Simon, they were aiming for the victory that had eluded them so far this season. The anomaly had to be rectified in this last competitive event before the World Championships in Lenzerheide (Switzerland). But biathlon is not an exact science , and the French stumbled.
Always in the first places, they were even in the lead of this transalpine relay after six shots out of eight. Océane Michelon was 1 sec 3 ahead of Norway’s Maren Kirkeeide and 13 sec 5 ahead of Sweden’s Anna Magnusson. However, as she sometimes does, she suffered from tachycardia and had a complicated last lap, handing over to Julia Simon in third place, 25.8 seconds behind the leader. All this before leaving the track with the help of the medical staff.
A Norwegian fall and victory swings to Sweden
The final part of the race was a duel between Hanna Oeberg’s Sweden and Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold’s Norway. The outcome of this battle wasn’t decided on the shooting range, where the same amount of money was spent, but on the track. In the end, it was a fall by the Norwegian after a daring attack by the Swede in the final that forced the decision.
The French had to be content with third place, 23.6 seconds ahead of Switzerland, Italy, Ukraine, Estonia, Germany, Slovenia and Canada. For Les Bleues, despite the disappointment of not lifting their arms, it was a fourth podium in four relays this winter. Above all, the next one will be the most important: the World Championships, scheduled for 22 February.
4 RACES – 4 PODIUMS! 🤩🥉
Another podium! Our Frenchwomen take 3rd place in the relay at Antholz-Anterselva. 🇮🇹
Well done Jeanne Richard, Lou Jeanmonnot, Océane Michelon and Julia Simon! 🇫🇷
📸 Agence Zoom pic.twitter.com/9yK2JuYrAD– FFS – Fédération Française de Ski (@FedFranceSki) January 26, 2025
Full results
- The full programme for the Antholz-Anterselva World Cup, the sixth stage of the 2024/2025 season
- Corinne Niogret: my best memory of… Antholz-Anterselva
- An Oslo-Holmenkollen finish: images of the new configuration of the Südtirol Arena in Antholz-Anterselva
- “I was lucky at the start of my career to race against a legend”: Eric Perrot pays tribute to Johannes Thingnes Boe a few days after announcing his retirement.
- Antholz: Elvira Oeberg (very) doubtful for the sprint
- Elvira Oeberg to skip all Antholz competitions
- This week, Dorothea Wierer will experience her last races at the Antholz World Cup.
- Antholz: fifth success of the winter for Lou Jeanmonnot, winner of the sprint at 10/10
- “I focused on the fact that I wanted to shoot well”: how Lou Jeanmonnot won the second sprint of his career in Antholz.
- “I’ve never experienced anything like it”: Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold’s strange misadventure in the Antholz sprint
- “I found myself again”: in the Antholz sprint, Julia Simon made her comeback at the flower ceremony
- Franziska Preuss takes her first podium in Antholz: “It’s very satisfying”.
- Antholz: Tarjei Boe wins the sprint by a whisker ahead of Sturla Holm Lægreid and Tommaso Giacomel, Eric Perrot in the top 10
- Antholz: second in the sprint, Sturla Holm Lægreid takes the yellow bib from Johannes Thingnes Boe
- A few days after his brother, Tarjei Boe announced the end of his career at the end of the winter.
- “I promised myself that the next time I was at the top, I’d stop”: in tears, Tarjei Boe chose to announce the end of his career after his fifteenth World Cup success.
- Antholz: with a demonstration performance, Lou Jeanmonnot wins the pursuit ahead of Julia Simon and Franziska Preuss, flowers for Jeanne Richard and Océane Michelon
- Antholz: before the World Championships break, Franziska Preuss maintains her 92-point lead over Lou Jeanmonnot in the overall standings
- “I would have liked to have made 20/20 to dominate from A to Z”: Lou Jeanmonnot, the almost perfect masterpiece on the Antholz chase
- Antholz: Fabien Claude, Quentin Fillon-Maillet, Eric Perrot and Emilien Jacquelin win the relay and give France an historic four in a row.
- “We’re no longer the best in the world”: the Norwegians hail France’s magnificent performance in the Antholz relay
