Biathlon : Fabien Claude and Julia Simon to triple their win in Gelsenkirchen
For the last two years, Fabien Claude from Bassur and Julia Simon from Savoie have enjoyed a dream evening at the World Team Challenge in Gelsenkirchen (Germany). Competing in the show, held at Schalke 04’s football stadium, the French pair won the event, scoring a superb double.
So this Saturday, exactly one year after their second German triumph, they will be trying to do what no pair has done before: retain their title for a second time and treble their winnings.
The French will be up against some strong and fierce competition led by Norwegians Karoline Knotten and Sturla Holm Lægreid. Germany – with Philipp Nawrath and Franziska Preuss as well as Justus Strelow and Anna Weidel – will be watching closely, as will Sweden(Jesper Nelin, Anna Magnusson), the Czech Republic(Michal Krcmar, Jessica Jislova) and Slovenia(Jakov Fak, Polona Klemencic).
Belgium, with Lotte Lie and Florent Claude, Latvia, with Baiba Bendika and Andrejs Rastorgujevs, and Ukraine, with Yuliia Dzhima and Dmytro Pidruchnyi, will also be taking part.
A 1.3 kilometre loop
For the twenty-first anniversary of the World Team Challenge, the format of the competition will not change from the usual: it will take place in two parts: a mass-start followed by a pursuit at the end of which the winners will be crowned. The two legs will be run on the model of the single mixed relay, with four runs for each of the biathletes in each race (with no spike balls and a 75-metre penalty ring for missing a target).
As usual, the shooting range will be located opposite the south bend of the VELTINS-Arena , while the track will measure 1.3 kilometres: 600 metres flat inside the stadium, then 700 metres outside with short, steep climbs and fast, dangerous descents. Each loop has a positive difference in altitude of around 30 metres. Waxing – without fluoride – will be shared and carried out by German technicians.
Finally, the organisers have introduced a new prize money system. Whereas the inaugural mass-start was not previously rewarded, it is now rewarded with a third of the total prize money, with the remaining two-thirds going to the winners of the pursuit. This decision was taken to add a little more to the stakes in this first part of the race, which is often devoid of interest.
The complete start list
The full programme of the World Team Challenge 2024
Saturday 28 December
- 12.00: opening of the village
- 2.30pm: Opening of the grandstands and VIP areas of the Veltins Arena
- 2.50pm: presentation of the Talent Team Challenge teams
- 15:00: Talent Team Challenge shooting trials
- 3.20pm: Talent Team Challenge shooting competition qualifiers
- 3.30pm: Talent Team Challenge shooting competition final
- 3.50pm: mass-start of the Talent Team Challenge
- 4.35pm: Talent Team Challenge prize-giving ceremony
- 4.45pm: World Team Challenge shooting trials
- 5.10pm: Opening ceremony and presentation of the World Team Challenge teams
- 5.35pm: World Team Challenge shooting competition qualifiers
- 5.45pm: World Team Challenge shooting competition final
- 6.10pm: Mass start of the World Team Challenge
- 7.27pm: World Team Challenge continues
- 8.10pm: World Team Challenge prize-giving ceremony
- 8.20pm: Closing ceremony
- 8.30pm: Après-Ski-Party
- World Team Challenge 2024: the complete and official start list
- 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
- World Team Challenge 2024: all Julia Simon and Fabien Claude’s opponents
- No French juniors lining up for the Biathlon Talent Team Challenge auf Schalke 2024: the reasons
- World Team Challenge: Julia Simon and Fabien Claude make history by retaining their title
- The photo album of Fabien Claude and Julia Simon’s second consecutive success at the World Team Challenge in Gelsenkirchen
- Fabien Claude talks to Nordic Magazine about his brilliant success with Julia Simon in the World Team Challenge: “We dominated the whole race”.
