Biathlon: best result of the winter and at the world championships for Florent Claude
Until then, in his career as a biathlete defending the colours of Belgium, Florent Claude had achieved an individual top 20 finish at the World Championships. That was on 17 February 2021 during the individual race in Pokljuka (Slovenia) won by Sturla Holm Lægreid. Nineteenth that day at 19/20, he had not done better in a one-day race since.
Until Saturday’s sprint at the World Championships in Lenzerheide (Switzerland). In the canton of Grisons, the man from Basse-sur-le-Rupt (Vosges) put in a fine performance to finish seventeenth, his best result of the winter.
“It’s my best race of the season, that’s for sure, but I’ve already put in much better performances if you look at the rankings. On the other hand, in terms of my shooting and skiing, it was great in this sprint,” he told Nordic Magazine. I’m well placed. I did the best I could to validate the first part and there’s still everything to do.
He had to prepare for the chase by trying to line up triple 20s with darts.
Florent Claude is not in the least bit enthusiastic about this race. ” It’s still seventeenth place and I’m far from shouting with joy because, I repeat, everything still has to be done”, he says. To explain this fine performance, which came after a difficult month of January, the man from Bassur says that he has finally managed to combine skiing and shooting.
“In December, I was putting the balls in, but I wasn’t fit and ready on the skis. In January, my form returned, but I wasn’t putting the balls in any more. In this sprint, it’s the first race of the winter where I’ve managed to ski properly with a perfect shot,” he analyses. I hope that I’ll be able to do the same for the rest of the season.
And why not in the chase on Sunday? “It’s going to be tight and there will be a lot of places up for grabs. It will be up to me to get through the shots one after the other and to be intelligent on the track. We’ll see where I am in the final round and what I can play for, but there’s a real opportunity if I can get all 20 shots in,” says Florent Claude.
As part of his preparation, he planned to spend Saturday evening in the games room of the chalet where the Belgian national team is staying… playing darts. ” It’s a bit of a fad in biathlon, and we’re a bit addicted to it too,” he finishes with a broad smile.
Live data from the men’s sprint
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