Biathlon: young Doubistes on training course in Hochfilzen
From 3 to 10 November, a few weeks after the home Summer Tour in Arçon (Doubs), the U17 biathlon group from the Doubs departmental ski committee was on training camp in Austria… in Hochfilzen. Sixteen young Doubs skiers took part in a series of training sessions at the stadium hosting the World Cup this week.
The training camp was made possible because the Xavier Marmier high school in Pontarlier (Doubs), where the youngsters attend school, has very good links with the HIB Saalfelden (Austria). As a result, the next generation of biathletes from the Doubs department were able to travel to the land of Mozart under the guidance of JulesBourgon and Gilles Marguet.
For Nordic Magazine, he agreed to recount this timeless week.
“The aim was to do a training course, but it was a double one because there was a whole cultural side to the trip”.
“For the third time in a row, Gilles Lampert, the PE teacher at the Lycée Xavier Mamier, asked us if we didn’t want to go to Austria. They come to Pontarlier every spring from Saalfelden, but it’s often difficult for us to find a slot in the autumn. This time, I had a free moment, but it was just after the All Saints’ holiday, so the youngsters missed out on an extra week of school. I didn’t think they would agree, but in the end they did and that’s how it worked out. I’d like to thank the teachers for playing their part in making this possible!”

“In Austria, we stayed in the HIB boarding school in Saalfelden. The aim was to do a training course, but it was a double one because there was a whole cultural side to the trip. Right from the first evening, the kids got together with the Austrians for a game of football or volleyball. It was really nice and positive.”


“When we saw the state of the boarding school when we arrived on Sunday, it immediately showed the interest shown in sport in Austria. The boarding school was just exceptional, better than a youth hostel. They have three gyms, three weight rooms, it’s crazy! After that, when it comes to food, France is still unbeatable [laughs]… But it also goes to show that we’re not that stupid in France, because even though our school infrastructure isn’t as good as France’s, we still manage to beat them! Our strength lies in doing things differently.”
“It was funny because, for 2 hours of training, we stayed in the stadium for 4 hours”
“From Saalfelden, we were less than 20 minutes’ drive from Hochfilzen. It was great! When we arrived at the stadium, the kids immediately recognised what they see on TV. I let my ears wander and heard things like: “Can you believe it, we’re going to be able to say we skied on the Hochfilzen World Cup piste! They were amazed, they just loved it!”



“It was funny because, for 2 hours of training, we stayed in the stadium for 4 hours. The kids didn’t want to leave, it was great! The first night, we finished at night. It was magical. We did two mixed sessions with the Austrians, but no real training with them. We’d have to come back regularly to do that. But it’s not a big deal, the trip was rich enough to add to it!”
“They took the measure of the madness in Kitzbühel”
“One day, Simon Eder was training when we were there. He’s not far off my age and he came to see me, asking me for news and what I was doing there. He’s still just as motivated and having a great time! We were able to take a photo with him, and he was really available. Although they see Lou Jeanmonnot all summer long, the youngsters were amazed to see him! We had lots of magical moments like that during the week. At the shooting range, they’d get down on a mat and think that maybe Johannes [Thingnes Boe] had laid down on it too!”



“We went to Kitzbühel and it was amazing to see that a lot of biathletes didn’t know what it meant… We went straight up the final slope of the Streif with the last schuss and the overhang. We went up on all fours, and they put up signs saying that skiers go past here at 140 km/h! It’s just crazy. I told them I’d been there once during a World Cup and I couldn’t stop. They understood just how crazy Kitzbühel is. What’s more, the weather was great and they loved it! We also stopped off at Red Bull’s Hangar-7 in Salzburg. It was great too, even better than Mozart’s house [laughs]!”

“We did a French course too! A teacher agreed and there were about twenty of them. It was very shy, but a wonderful first approach. They really understood the obstacles that their lack of foreign language skills could put in their way. Sometimes they wanted to communicate, but weren’t always able to do so. In that respect, the course was positive and helped to motivate them! They were amazed all week and I was amazed to see them amazed. We could have done 10 times as much in the same amount of time at Arçon, but the energy and stars shining in their eyes is much more positive! It was a dream week.”
“We handed out the papers and it was like being at the French exam! We could hear all the flies flying for 55 minutes”
“With Jules [Bourgon], we also supervised a French homework assignment for the first-years! Molière’s L’Ingénu, paragraph 3, was a blast [laughs]. It was a short explanation of the text… and a bit of science fiction. The teacher’s instructions were no telephone or GPT chat, no possibility of chatting to each other. We set up the tables 3 metres apart in a large room. We did it in a very theatrical way. We handed out the papers, it was as if we were at the French exam! You could hear all the flies flying around for 55 minutes. I was hallucinating because I know these young people, I know what they’re like all the time, and I wondered what was happening to them [laughs]!”


“Hochfilzen is very close to Ruhpolding and, when we left to go back to France, I called a friend who works on the World Cup organisation and asked him if it was possible to do a session there. Unfortunately, they were just starting to spread the snow for snowfarming at the time, but we still managed to go and see the site! We went round on foot and some very emotional personal memories came back to me. It’s great to revisit it with the youngsters, who were amazed to see this legendary biathlon stadium. They dream of being able to perform there one day…”
The full list of U17 biathletes attending the Doubs departmental ski committee’s training camp in Hochfilzen (Austria)
2009
- Maya Perrey – ES Saugette
- Canelle Midez – ES Saugette
- Noémie Penalvert – ES Saugette
- Romane Chardon – ES Saugette
- Timéo Rieu – Risoux Club Chaux-Neuve
- Samuel Morin – Olympic Mont d’Or
- Noé Humbert – AS Oye-et-Pallet
2008
- Léa Marguier – AS Oye-et-Pallet
- Rose Marguet – ES Saugette
- Elie Roussel – ES Saugette
- Joé Guinchard – ES Saugette
- Timéo Amiote – SC Morteau
- Augustin Remonnay – SC Morteau
- Charly Roy – ES Saugette
- Thimothée Lambert – SC Morteau
- Alexis Provost – AS Mouthe
- The full programme for the Hochfilzen World Cup, the second stage of the 2024/2025 season
- Corinne Niogret: my best memory of… Hochfilzen
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