Biathlon: no treble for Julia Simon and Fabien Claude in Gelsenkirchen
At midday on Saturday, just a few hours before the World Team Challenge 2024 at the Gelsenkirchen football stadium (Germany), Fabien Claude explained in our columns that shooting would be crucial in the quest for the treble. “Here, shooting time counts for a lot because the penalty rings are less than 10 seconds, he analysed at the time. With Julia [Simon], we have what it takes to succeed and perform very well.”
Unfortunately, once night fell in the Ruhr and the VELTINS-Arena was full, Les Bleus were unable to show themselves to be (almost) perfect on the mats, as had been the case over the last two years. Above all, Julia Simon and Fabien Claude committed double and even triple faults.
Fast on the 1.3km loop, the French were in the running for the podium for a while, following a mass-start that finished in second place. Victory, however, went to the Norwegian team of Karoline Knotten and Sturla Holm Lægreid, who won by a wide margin at 39/40. The Norwegian team won in Gelsenkirchen for the first time since 2019 – that was with Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen and Marte Olsbu Roeiseland – and for the sixth time overall.
Belgium by Florent Claude fourth
On the podium, they were joined by locals Anna Weidel and Justus Strelow (35/40) and Franziska Preuss and Philipp Nawrath (36/40).
Third after the last shot, Belgium’s Lotte Lie and Florent Claude (39/40) took a fine fourth place ahead of Sweden’sAnna Magnusson and Jesper Nelin (37/40).
With no fewer than 11 faults (29/40), Julia Simon and Fabien Claude had to be content with sixth place. The Vosges native broke a binding in the process. Obviously, this result is a disappointment for Les Bleus… who will now return to France to get back to work before the World Cup resumes in Oberhof (Germany) at the start of January.
Full results
- Biathlon auf Schalke: Fabien Claude and Julia Simon second in the World Team Challenge mass-start won by Norway
- Julia Simon and Fabien Claude in search of an unprecedented treble: the full programme of the World Team Challenge 2024 scheduled for Saturday 28 December
- “The aim is to do the historic treble”: Fabien Claude’s ambitions ahead of the World Team Challenge in Gelsenkirchen
- World Team Challenge 2024: the complete and official start list
- Entries, stakes, venue, format, course, prize money: all the information you need to know before the World Team Challenge 2024, where Julia Simon and Fabien Claude will represent France.
- World Team Challenge 2024: all Julia Simon and Fabien Claude’s opponents
- World Team Challenge: Julia Simon and Fabien Claude look back on their first two wins at the Biathlon auf Schalke in Gelsenkirchen
- Biathlon auf Schalke: Norway’s Guro Femsteinevik and Sivert Gerhardsen win the Talent Team Challenge
- No French juniors lining up for the Biathlon Talent Team Challenge auf Schalke 2024: the reasons
