Biathlon: Paula Botet’s big race
On Friday morning, during the women’s sprint at the IBU Biathlon Cup in Geilo (Norway), Paula Botet from the Vosges was on cloud nine. Two days after a difficult individual race in which she lost her position as overall leader of the B circuit, the biathlete from La Bresse (Vosges) got back on track in the biathlon’s benchmark event.
Paula Botet, who started with the number 2 bib, ran the perfect race. With the second best time on the cross-country skis and a 10/10, spending just over a minute in total on the mats, she killed the race from the outset. Although her compatriot Chloé Chevalier (9/10) was ahead of her until the start of the standing shot, the Dauphinoise made a mistake on this second pass behind the rifle.
Chloé Chevalier finished fourth in the sprint, 38.0 seconds behind her team-mate, who won her second IBU Cup sprint of the winter. Joining the Bressaude on the podium were Germany’s Marlene Fichtner (10/10), at 31.4 seconds, and Sweden’s Johanna Skottheim (9/10), at 36.9 seconds.
Norway’s Marit Oeygard (10/10) and Siri Skar (10/10) completed the flower ceremony, while Camille Bened (8/10), eleventh, and Voldiya Galmace-Paulin (7/10), twelfth, finished just outside the top 10. As a result, Paula Botet took over the overall lead from the Chablais rider.
Anaëlle Bondoux (7/10) was twenty-second and Fany Bertrand (7/10) twenty-fourth. Last but not least,Ida Lien (5/10) was twentieth and Anastasiya Kuzmina (4/10) from Slovakia was fifty-fourth.
Full results
IBU Cup general ranking
- Geilo: Isak Frey takes his third IBU Cup win in a row by winning the individual, Gaëtan Paturel sixth
- IBU Cup in Geilo: Camille Bened dominates the individual, Fany Bertrand third, Voldiya Galmace-Paulin fifth
- Camille Bened after winning the individual at the IBU Cup in Geilo: “Huge satisfaction”.
- The full programme for the IBU Cup in Geilo, the second stage of the 2024/2025 B circuit
- Firsts for Martin Botet, Axel Garnier and Voldiya Galmace-Paulin: the full French team selection for the IBU Cups in Idre Fjäll and Geilo
- Geilo: Marit Oeygard and Mats Oeverby win IBU Cup
- Geilo replaces the Sjusjøen stage in the IBU Cup
