Biathlon: Anaëlle Bondoux European junior champion for the second time
On Saturday afternoon, two years after winning European junior gold in the pursuit in Madona (Latvia), Anaëlle Bondoux claimed a second continental title. At the SPARKASSEN-Arena in Altenberg (Germany), she won the sprint.
However, it wasn’t a foregone conclusion as the Dauphinoise, who fell ill after Wednesday’s individual race finished in fourth place, had to withdraw from Friday’s mixed relay. ” I was very reluctant to race, but as I felt I was doing pretty well and was determined to have a good race at these European Championships, I wanted to give it a go, even though I knew I was a bit weak”, she explained to Nordic Magazine.
In addition to this virus, Anaëlle Bondoux had to deal with a change in the weather. She had to hand over the race skis to the organisers the day before the Junior Cup competition – where joint waxing is the rule – but the choice of boards was not the right one.
She is now aiming for the world junior championships
Going into a race knowing that you’re not necessarily going to slide well and that you’re a bit ill doesn’t help your confidence,” says the Iséroise native. I’m all the prouder of my race and of having managed to put everything I could control on my side to come out with a nice 9/10. I wanted to show that I’m making progress with my shooting and that it’s getting stronger. With bad skis and an illness, I can still win races!
With one race still to go this Sunday, the Mass-Start 60, Anaëlle Bondoux is already looking ahead to the rest of her winter.
“This sprint is a race that allows me to be satisfied with this week and motivates me to go for great things later in the season. So I’m going to try to recover as best I can from this virus so that I’m fully fit for the next big objective coming up: the world junior championships,” she says. First of all, I’ll have to go through the selection rounds again, and then I’ll try to perform if I’m there.
- Junior Cup: the full programme for the 2025 European Junior Championships in Altenberg
- “I’m really motivated”: this week in Altenberg, Féclazienne Coralie Perrin discovers the Junior Cup
- Junior Cup in Altenberg: Antonin Delsol individual European junior vice-champion, Camille Grataloup-Manissolle fourth, one tenth away from bronze
- “I threw myself into the unknown”: how, on the day of his first international start, Antonin Delsol won a silver medal in the individual event at the European Junior Championships.
- Altenberg: Bulgaria’s Valentina Dimitrova wins gold in the individual event at the European junior championships, Anaëlle Bondoux fourth
- European Junior Championships in Altenberg: Camille Grataloup-Manissolle, Antonin Delsol, Lola Bugeaud and Louise Roguet win silver medals in the mixed relay
- “When I got up, I didn’t think I was going to run”: from substitute on the mixed relay to silver medallist at the European junior championships, Louise Roguet’s crazy day at Altenberg
- Altenberg Junior Cup: Léo Carlier and Célia Henaff runners-up in the European junior mixed singles relay
- European junior runner-up in the mixed singles relay with Léo Carlier, Célia Henaff recounts the mano a mano finish with Germany: “I gave 100% of myself.
- Junior Cup in Altenberg: Camille Grataloup-Manissolle takes bronze in the sprint, Germany’s Fabian Kaskel wins on home soil
- Altenberg Junior Cup: Anaëlle Bondoux crowned European junior sprint champion ahead of Savoyard Coralie Perrin
