Biathlon: Paula Botet already qualified for the IBU Cup
The biathlon selections organised this week by the French Ski Federation (FFS) in Bessans (Savoie) are drawing to a close. While the two sprints on the programme were contested on Thursday and Saturday, the mass-starts will bring the hostilities to a close on Sunday morning. Ahead of this final race, and with the best two of the three results counting towards the IBU Cup tickets, Nordic Magazine takes a look at the balance of power.
On the women’s side, Vosges’ Paula Botet, with two wins in the sprints, already has her ticket in her pocket for the competitions scheduled over the coming weeks in Idre Fjäll (Sweden) and Geilo (Norway). Behind them, Fany Bertrand and Voldiya Galmace-Paulin, second and third in the first races of the week, are off to a very good start and have a strong chance of securing the other two tickets to the IBU Cup.
This Sunday, in the mass-start, they will have to watch out for Léonie Jeannier and Noémie Remonnay from Francs-Comtoises. With each of them in fourth place, they can hope to pip them to the title if they win. For the others, hopes seem to be in vain, although Violette Bony and Lisa Siberchicot (both fifth), Camille Coupé (sixth and eighth) and Amandine Mengin (eighth and sixth) are not far behind.
However, it’s definitely over for Lou-Anne Dupont Ballet-Baz, Amélie Broutier, Célia Henaff, Coralie Langel, Ludmilla Roche, Eva Laine, Pauline Machut and Maëla Correia. The last rights have decided not to take part in the closing mass-start.
Gaëtan Paturel will be in the French squad for the start of the IBU Cup
In the men’s battle, Gaëtan Paturel from Haut-Savoy, with a win and second place, is sure to be in the IBU Cup circuit from the end of the month. Théo Guiraud-Poillot, second and third, and Axel Garnier, third and first, seem to have taken a big step towards qualification.
For the other two possible tickets to Geilo(following the World Cup starts of the two best Frenchmen in the Idre Fjäll sprints), it’s a much tighter race, with Ian Martinet and Corentin Jacob, each with a fourth-place finish and a disappointment, playing for big points in Sunday’s mass-start.
They’ll be under pressure from Valentin Lejeune (fifth place), Lionel Jouannaud (twice sixth), Alexis Colomban and Antonin Delsol (seventh place each), Damien Levet (eighth and fifth), Jacques Jefferies (ninth and eighth), and Paul Fontaine and Edgar Geny (tenth place each). They could well get the better of them in the event of a big result in the grouped start.
But it’s all over for Léo Carlier, Mathieu Garcia, Antonin Guy, Nathanaël Peaquin, Martin Botet, Esteban Javaux, Mathieu Perrillat-Bottonet, Ambroise Meunier, Guillaume Poirot, Lou Thiévent and Ilann Dupont. Although he was aiming for ninth place, Flavio Guy opted to withdraw from the final race.
The full programme of selections from Bessans (Savoie)
Sunday 17 November
- 8.20am-8.50am: men’s and women’s skis off (no weapons check)
- 8.30am-9.10am: Men’s and women’s shooting trials
- 9.20am: men’s 15km mass-start
- 10.10am: women’s 12.5 km mass-start
- Sélections de Bessans: Camille Bened makes a strong impression by dominating the second sprint ahead of Gilonne Guigonnat and Justine Braisaz-Bouchet
- Bessans: Axel Garnier wins the second men’s sprint of the selections, Antonin Guigonnat and Gaëtan Paturel on the podium
- IBU Cup selections in Bessans: lessons learned from the first sprint
- Sélections de Bessans: the first women’s sprint for Paula Botet, Chloé Chevalier and Camille Bened follow
- Bessans: Gaëtan Paturel wins the first selection sprint ahead of Antonin Guigonnat and Théo Guiraud-Poillot
- 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
