Biathlon: Emilien Claude’s podium finish and shared happiness with Anna Gandler
On Wednesday afternoon, 25-year-old biathlete Emilien Claude from Basse-sur-le-Rupt (Vosges) climbed onto his first World Cup podium. Second in the individual event in Ruhpolding (Germany) thanks to a 20/20 score, he was beaten by Norway’s Vebjoern Soerum.
A place in the top 3 that the man from the Vosges didn’t see coming. “It’s a very emotional and proud moment, but also a relief. I don’t have the impression that my life is changing, but that hard work is paying off after four complicated years”, he explained in our columns following the official ceremony.
Later that evening, Nordic Magazine asked his Austrian companion Anna Gandler, who was competing in the women’s individual on Thursday, to tell us how she felt about Emilien Claude‘s performance.
Nerves before the last shot… then tears of happiness
“The race was incredible! I’m at a loss for words. I was in my room, in my bed and I was also watching on the IBU Datacenter because I wanted to know the result straight away, before the TV… I was so nervous before the last shot, it was horrible! Then I saw on the Datacenter that, damn (sic), he’d shot 20/20!!! Then I saw that Soerum and Rastorgujevs were dangerous, but the rest was fine. And I realised that he was going to make the podium, it’s incredible! I cried too [laughs].”
“I’m really happy, and I don’t really understand what’s going on! It’s incredible. Emilien [Claude] is really strong in the head. He’s had periods when things didn’t quite work out. For me, he’s a great inspiration. I’m someone who gives up quickly and is always very disappointed when I don’t have good races. He always finds the positive and never gives up. It’s incredible and I’m sure it helped him to get on the podium!”
Once the problem had been solved on his rifle, it clicked: “He was so happy to have found the problem!”
“It’s a crazy story! It was horrible the way he shot during the Christmas break at Seefeld. He kept missing. We even had competitions against each other and he always lost, even though I wasn’t shooting very well myself… He was even worse! My father [Markus Gandler, 1998 Olympic vice-champion in the individual cross-country skiing classic, editor’s note] told him that he definitely had a problem with his rifle.”
“At first, we thought it was the balls, because they were old, but it wasn’t any better with new ones. His coach then helped him identify the problem and he was so happy to have found it! Without that, he wouldn’t have been able to make the podium.”
- The full programme for the Ruhpolding World Cup, the fifth stage of the 2024/2025 season
- Corinne Niogret: my best memory of… Ruhpolding
- Same old, same old: the French selection for the Ruhpolding World Cup
- Ruhpolding: first World Cup podium for Emilien Claude, second in the individual race won by Vebjoern Soerum
- Emilien Claude on his first World Cup podium in Ruhpolding: “I don’t feel that my life is changing, but that hard work is paying off after four complicated years”.
- “It’s a real nightmare”: 85th in Ruhpolding, Johannes Thingnes Boe put in the worst World Cup performance of his career
