Biathlon: first World Cup victory for Paula Botet
Even Paula Botet herself didn’t believe it. A few minutes after crossing the finish line of the Biathlon World Cup sprint in Oberhof (Germany), Paula Botet spoke to La Chaîne L’Equipe in the mixed zone: “I don’t know what to say… I felt so bad, I was freezing, I thought I’d do anything in the last lap. It’s improbable, I’m in shock!”
With a 10/10 on the shooting range and the seventh fastest time on the cross-country track, the Vosges native had just completed the perfect race in the fog, cold, wind and rain of Oberhof. “Over the last few days, I’ve been really looking forward to racing, looking forward to it happening and being able to do this race, she told Nordic Magazine after the official ceremony. This morning, when I got up, I was pretty stressed!”
In spite of everything, Paula Botet put in a perfect sprint… without necessarily realising it: “When I cross the line and I’m told I’m in the lead, I think that there are bound to be girls who will pass me… But I was really happy because I thought it was going to be a great race! Afterwards, I went to change, picked up my phone and saw that I was still in the lead! I came out and they told me it was done…”
Despite the difficulties, she believed in her lucky star
“At the time, I didn’t realise it at all, she continues. Now I tell myself that I’ve won the race, but it seems crazy to me. I realise it, but I think it’s crazy that it happened for real.”
It has to be said that the Bressaude is coming off a difficult winter, marked by very debilitating shin pain.
“I ended the winter a little sad, but full of hope. It stayed with me all year and I knew deep down that I was on the right path. I realised that I still wanted to continue and that this, the biathlon, was my dream, she says. I continued on my little path, telling myself that I was going to succeed one day. But from that to telling myself this summer that I was training to win the World Cup, not at all! I already had to select myself for the IBU Cup…”
A little girl’s (and big girl’s) dream come true
A top performer on this circuit in December, Paula Botet has now regained her World Cup ticket at the start of 2025 : “I knew I needed to perform if I wanted to stay, but at the same time I wanted to make the most of the opportunity and not regret it if it was my last [World Cup] race”.
This Thuringian victory is “a little girl’s dream” come true. “But it’s also a dream come true for a grown-up, because I kept dreaming of it,” she says.
In Saturday’s pursuit, which she will start with number 1 and more than 30 seconds ahead of her first runner-up, Paula Botet could well confirm this.
- Oberhof: Paula Botet, with 10/10, dominates the sprint and wins her first World Cup title
- The full programme for the Oberhof World Cup, the fourth stage of the 2024/2025 season
- Corinne Niogret: my best memory of… Oberhof
- Paula Botet to replace Sophie Chauveau: the French selection for the Oberhof World Cup
- “She completely deserves to go up”: why the team staff decided to replace Sophie Chauveau with Paula Botet for the Oberhof World Cup
- “I can’t ski with the athletes”: Simon Fourcade, coach of the French men’s team, ruptures the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee
