Biathlon: Women’s IBU Cup gets off to a perfect start for France
Just over a year ago, Jeanne Richard won the first event of the women’s IBU Cup 2023/2024. For the Montblanc native, the victory launched a magnificent season that included a rise to the World Cup and a place at the World Championships.
On Thursday afternoon, in the first race of the 2024/2025 B circuit held in Idre Fjäll (Sweden), it was Bresse’s Paula Botet who stood out. Having struggled last winter with a shin injury which led to a lack of form, the Vosges rider proved, two weeks after some magnificent selections from Bessan, that she is back in (great) form.
Paula Botet, who scored 10/10 in the opening sprint, also set by far the fastest time of the day on cross-country skis. An impressive winner for the second time in her IBU Cup career. Behind her, there was another returnee: Chloé Chevalier. Also with 10/10, the Dauphinoise was the only one able to rival the winner. In the end, she lost out by 12.9 seconds, but had a magnificent race.
A podium of revenants, Voldiya Galmace-Paulin already in the top 20
Behind, at 42 sec 4, it was Germany’s Anna Weidel (9/10) who climbed onto the podium. She also struggled last winter, but now she has reassured herself and got her winter off to the best possible start. Sweden’s Johanna Skottheim (8/10) and Norway’s Karoline Erdal (9/10) and Marit Ishol Skogan (9/10) follow in the rankings to complete the flower ceremony.
Camille Bened from Chablais (9/10), only the third Frenchwoman on the day, still managed a fine seventh place. Fany Bertrand (9/10) was sixteenth, while Montblanc’s Voldiya Galmace-Paulin (9/10), making her first IBU Cup start at just 19 years of age, finished twentieth. Twenty-fourth place went to Anaëlle Bondoux (7/10) from Isère, who is back from illness.
Full results
IBU Cup general ranking
- Paula Botet on the news after a season disrupted by shin pain: “I stuck my head in the sand and pretended there was no problem”.
- Chloé Chevalier tells Nordic Magazine: “I forgot to enjoy and live my career with the big eyes of a child”.
- Antonin Guigonnat and Emilien Claude get off to a good start, with Oscar Lombardot in ambush: the first sprint at Idre Fjäll provides a wealth of lessons in the race for the World Cup.
- IBU Cup Idre Fjäll: Sverre Dahlen Aspenes wins the first sprint of the winter, Antonin Guigonnat third ahead of Emilien Claude
- IBU Cup in Idre Fjäll: the great battle for the last two French men’s World Cup places in Kontiolahti gets underway
- The last two men’s World Cup places will be decided in the sprints at the IBU Cup in Idre Fjäll
- Firsts for Martin Botet, Axel Garnier and Voldiya Galmace-Paulin: the full French team selection for the IBU Cups in Idre Fjäll and Geilo
- “I’ll have to be a natural to produce my biathlon at 100% of what I know how to do”: Oscar Lombardot prepares to stake his place in the World Cup at the IBU Cup in Idre Fjäll
- Théo Guiraud-Poillot’s ambitions a few days before the start of the IBU Cup: “I’m not necessarily aiming for the World Cup at the start of the season, but…”.
- “I’m on the way up and in great shape”: the joy of Axel Garnier from Haut-Savoie, who has qualified for the IBU Cup for the first time.
- “There’s a chance I’ll qualify, but it’s also possible I won’t make it through and my season won’t stop”: Emilien Claude’s state of mind ahead of the IBU Cup in Idre Fjäll, where he’ll be playing for his place in the World Cup.
- “I know that my form will improve as the races go on”: sick in Bessans after her concussion, Anaëlle Bondoux remains confident ahead of the start of the IBU Cup
- Voldiya Galmace-Paulin, aged just 19, on her first IBU Cup selection: “It’s really good to discover a new circuit, it makes you want to do it”.
- “We get on very well”: Anaëlle Bondoux and Voldiya Galmace-Paulin, the two French precociousness queens reunited at the IBU Cup
- Camille Bened, in fine form at the Bessans selection trials, tells Nordic Magazine: “I’m waiting to see if I can build on this over time to become very regular”.
