Biathlon: Gaëtan Paturel’s first victory in the Bessans selection trials
This Thursday morning, the Bessans FFS biathlon qualifiers for the first two stages of the 2024/2025 IBU Cup got underway in Haute Maurienne Vanoise. In bright sunshine and sub-zero temperatures, it was the men who kicked off the hostilities with a 10-kilometre sprint.
In a race full of twists and turns, it was Montblanc’s Gaëtan Paturel (9/10) who finally came out on top. A member of the Haute-Savoie Nordic Team, the biathlete from SNCP Rochois, who was the last to start with his number 26 bib, gave up only one ball when he stood up and won by 18 sec 1 over Antonin Guigonnat (7/10), who had already qualified, and 19 sec 3 over Théo Guiraud-Poillot (8/10).
At the foot of the podium, we find Axel Garnier (9/10) at 23 sec 1 then Ian Martinet (10/10), Valentin Lejeune (8/10), Lionel Jouannaud (8/10, in the lead with the prone shot, Alexis Colomban (10/10), ahead after the standing shot, Damien Levet (8/10) and Jacques Jefferies (8/10), last member of the day’s top 10.
Many disappointed
Among the disappointments were eleventh place for Paul Fontaine (9/10), thirteenth for Mathieu Garcia (7/10), fourteenth for Antonin Guy (9/10), eighteenth for Martin Botet (6/10), twentieth for Mathieu Perrillat-Bottonet (5/10),Ambroise Meunier‘s twenty-first(6/10), Corentin Jacob ‘s twenty-second (6/10),Edgar Geny ‘s twenty-third (5/10), Guillaume Poirot ‘s twenty-fourth (6/10) and Lou Thiévent ‘s twenty-fifth (7/10).
The latter now have their backs to the wall in these Bessan selections: they have effectively used up their joker and will have to shine this weekend in the second sprint and the mass-start if they hope to qualify for the IBU Cup.
Full results
- Sélections de Bessans: the first women’s sprint for Paula Botet, Chloé Chevalier and Camille Bened follow
- Sélections de Bessans: the start list for the first sprint
- IBU Cup: the full programme of selections in Bessans on 14, 16 and 17 November
- Three places up for grabs for the women and up to five for the men: Stéphane Bouthiaux explains what’s at stake and all the details of the IBU Cup selections in Bessans.
- “Doing specific work at race pace”: the French women’s team launches its final training camp of the preparation period on the snow at Bessans on Friday.
- Julia Simon, Lou Jeanmonnot, Jeanne Richard, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, Gilonne Guigonnat, Sophie Chauveau and Océane Michelon training on the snow at Bessans: photo album
- “We already made this choice last year”: why the French women’s team decided to finish their preparations in Bessans and not in Sjusjøen with the boys.
- The names of the six French players pre-qualified for the start of the 2024/2025 IBU Cup
- The full schedule for the arrival of the French team groups at the Bessans snow camp
