Biathlon: a debilitating injury for Simon Fourcade
Late on Sunday evening, Simon Fourcade, fitness coach of the French men’s biathlon team, revealed on his social networks that he had ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the summer break. Having already injured his back at the start of the summer preparations, the 2009 world champion in the mixed relay is off to a bad start in 2025.
This Monday morning, Simon Fourcade, on his way toOberhof (Germany), spoke to Nordic Magazine about the circumstances surrounding his injury: “It was [one week ago today] during a day of classic skiing. I just felt a crack on a fall at 9.45am and then I was able to finish my day until 4.30pm! I had a slight discomfort and I could feel that I was apprehensive about my left leg,” he explains.
So it was only later that the diagnosis was made. “After discussions with the doctor at the French Ski Federation, the plan is for me to try to finish the season like this, reveals Simon Fourcade. First of all, I’m going to have three cool weeks without doing too much skiing, so as not to stress the cruciate. After that, I’ll certainly be able to resume skiing with a splint and start strengthening the peripheral muscles.”
Once the season is over, in the spring, Simon Fourcade will undergo an operation. “They usually say it’s six months, but I hope it will be less if it’s well managed and I do effective rehabilitation,” he says.
No preparation camp in Lenzerheide, no skiing with the athletes, no running in to help the technicians
The practical consequences of the injury to the head coach of the French men’s biathlon team are manifold.
Firstly, it prevented Les Bleus from carrying out a mini training camp as planned in Lenzerheide (Switzerland), where the World Championships will be held next month, before heading to Oberhof. “We were too short-staffed to be able to run it,” says Simon Fourcade.
“Above all, I can’t ski with the athletes and that’s quite annoying because these are important moments for sharing, he continues. I can’t move around on the piste much either. Finally, it’s really going to penalise me when it comes to breaking in my cross-country skis.”
Every morning, the coaches come to help the technicians. “While they’re in the lorry, we do a few laps with the skis that have already been prepared, to give them a few kilometres so that the technicians can carry out the most relevant tests possible. We do between 10 and 15 km of running-in every day! So it’s something that I won’t be able to do in January and that the technicians will have to deal with,” regrets Simon Fourcade.
- The full programme for the Oberhof World Cup, the fourth stage of the 2024/2025 season
- Simon Fourcade injures his back in a fall on his bike during the French team’s training camp in the Basque country
- “It’s the pain that’s guiding my rehabilitation”: almost three weeks after his heavy fall on his bike, Simon Fourcade gives Nordic Magazine the latest news.
