Biathlon: second IBU Cup victory this winter for Paula Botet
A week after triumphing in the opening sprint of the 2025/2026 IBU Biathlon Cup in Obertilliach (Austria), Paula Botet from Bresse won the individual race in Ridnaun-Val Ridanna (Italy) on Thursday afternoon .
As one of the favourites in this race, she more than held her own. With 18/20 against the targets, and above all the best ski time, the Vosgienne won and took possession of the green bib of overall leader from Anna-Karin Heijdenberg (18/20), fifth of the day.
On the podium, Paula Botet was immediately joined by Voldiya Galmace-Paulin (18/20) from Haut-Savoie. Not quite up to scratch last weekend, the biathlete from Villard-sur-Boëge (Haute-Savoie) bounced back in fine style to take second place at 23 sec 3.
In third place was Austria’s Lara Wagner (19/20), while Sweden’s Emma Nilsson (19/20), in fourth place, confirmed her current fine form. In sixth place was Denmark’s Anne Bunemann de Besche (20/20), who performed a magnificent flower ceremony, just ahead of China’s Yuanmang Chu (20/20).
Best IBU Cup results for Célia Henaff and Franco-Swiss Coralie Langel
Célia Henaff (17/20) from Beaufort , in eleventh place, had her best career race on the IBU Cup circuit. The same goes for the Franco-Swiss Coralie Langel (18/20), fourteenth, who finished tenth in the super sprint, a format that has now disappeared.
Vosgienne Amandine Mengin (17/20), making her return to the circuit after taking part in the World Cup in Sweden, was seventeenth, Fany Bertrand (17/120) twenty-seventh and Sophie Chauveau (14/20) thirty-sixth.
Full results
C73A_v1-3IBU Cup general ranking
C78B_v1-15The general individual ranking
C78A_v1-15- The full programme for the Ridnaun-Val Ridanna IBU Cup, the second stage of the 2025/2026 B circuit season
- Amandine Mengin and Antonin Guigonnat arrive from the World Cup, Louise Roguet drops down to the Junior Cup: the French selection for the IBU Cup in Ridnaun-Val Ridanna
- Prestigious reinforcements: the Norwegian selection for the IBU Cup in Ridnaun-Val Ridanna
- IBU Cup Ridnaun-Val Ridanna: first international victory for Austrian Dominic Unterweger in the individual, Damien Levet fourth
- “I’m simply over the moon”: Dominic Unterweger, a first IBU Cup success at the age of 26 in the Ridnaun-Val Ridanna individual event
