Biathlon: Eric Perrot on the podium in the mass start at the Lenzerheide World Championships
Eric Perrot has never experienced anything like this in his career as a biathlete. Already a three-time world medallist in relay events, the Peiserot had no individual podium finishes to his name at the world championships.
Since Sunday, and the bronze won in the sunshine of the Roland Arena in Lenzerheide (Switzerland), it’s now a done deal. It was in the pursuit that the ambitious man from Savoie came third. However, it wasn’t a foregone conclusion as he started with the number 15 bib.
But Eric Perrot put in an outstanding performance, setting the fastest time in the day’s pursuit. “The plan was to shoot 20/20 because there was no chance of coming back without a good shot. From the first lap, I saw that we had great skis,” he told FFS TV.
Carried by magical skis
Although he didn’t manage to achieve this score, the biathlete from Pesey-Vallandry (Savoie) went into the final passage behind the rifle with a 14/15 and, above all, in a position to play for a medal.
“I look around me, I see Johannes [Thingnes Boe] filling it up, I see Campbell [Wright] filling it up and I know that Sturla [Holm Lægreid] is going to fill it up too because he’s a very good shot, he told La Chaîne L’Equipe. So I just had to go for it and I went for it.”
Solid on his skis in the final kilometres, Eric Perrot was able to claim bronze. “It’s magnificent. I said before these World Championships that I’d come here for gold or nothing. That’s still the case, but to start fifteenth today is a real golden feeling. I couldn’t really hope to beat Johannes [Thingnes Boe], he says. I feel like I’ve done the best I could.”
Finally, the Frenchman didn’t forget to thank the technicians, who he described as having put in a “magical performance”.” I had the craziest skis and this medal belongs to them as much as it does to me”, concluded Eric Perrot, who will be aiming for gold in the individual, relay and mass start events during the week.
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- Swiss biathlete Arnaud Du Pasquier presents the Roland Arena, the Lenzerheide stadium used for the 2025 World Championships
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- “We decided to follow the sporting logic”: Stéphane Bouthiaux explains how the French mixed relay team for the World Championships in Lenzerheide was put together.
- Quentin Fillon-Maillet annoyed at being sidelined in the mixed relay at the world championships in Lenzerheide: “I thought I deserved more consideration from the staff”.
- Lenzerheide: France, with Julia Simon, Lou Jeanmonnot, Eric Perrot and Emilien Jacquelin, retain their world mixed relay title
- “We couldn’t have got off to a better start than this”: the perfect start for the French team, which won gold in the mixed relay at the world championships in Lenzerheide.
- “I don’t feel like I made a mistake”: Julia Simon recounts her collision with Sweden’s Anna Magnusson during the mixed relay in Lenzerheide
- Julia Simon and Sebastian Samuelsson crashed, Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold and Hanna Oeberg failed to shoot: an opening mixed relay full of twists and turns in Lenzerheide
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- “Ten years on, Franziska Preuss has won her second individual world medal in the sprint at Lenzerheide.
- “She really believed in her chances”: in the Lenzerheide sprint, Suvi Minkkinen became the third Finn to win a world medal.
- “I’m a fighter, I won’t give up”: assures Lena Haecki-Gross, who came very close to winning a medal on home soil in the sprint at the World Championships.
- “Sometimes you just have to let go”: Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, who struggled at the World Championships in Lenzerheide, broke down in tears after the sprint.
- “I’m very proud”: Maya Cloetens tells Nordic Magazine how she made Belgian biathlon history by finishing eighth in the sprint at the World Championships in Lenzerheide.
- The quest for a first individual world title: why this could be the right year for Quentin Fillon-Maillet, who starts the Lenzerheide sprint this Saturday.
- Lenzerheide: Johannes Thingnes Boe crushes the sprint to win a fourth world gold medal in the discipline, Quentin Fillon-Maillet gets a tan
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- “I’m going to miss that feeling of being the best in the world”: Johannes Thingnes Boe continues to make history by winning the sprint at his last World Championships
- “Winning a first medal feels great”: bronze in the Lenzerheide sprint, Quentin Fillon-Maillet kicks off his World Championships in style
- “I feel really lucky”: at 22, Campbell Wright entered the big leagues by winning silver in the sprint at the World Championships.
- Lenzerheide: “I’m not going to spit on this race”: on the World Championships sprint, Tommaso Giacomel was reassured after the mixed relay
- Lenzerheide: the Swedes look grim after their unsuccessful sprint at the Worlds
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- Lenzerheide: Julia Simon, a golden opportunity to make World Championship history by winning the pursuit for the third time in a row
- “Everything still has to be done”: Florent Claude, a sprint in Lenzerheide finishing in 17th place that leaves you wanting more
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