Biathlon: Eric Perrot wore the yellow bib
On Friday afternoon, during the Biathlon World Cup sprint in Hochfilzen (Austria) and five days after winning the mass-start in Kontiolahti (Finland), Eric Perrot wore the yellow overall leader’s bib for the very first time.
Starting in sixty-eighth position under the Austrian sun, he was a little more coquettish, wearing fluorescent yellow goggles in a nod to his outfit for the day. He was 9/10 and thirteenth at the finish, but had to hand over the precious piece of cloth to Johannes Thingnes Boe, the day’s winner.
“It was great, I gained experience learning to race with a new bib colour, he explained later in the mixed zone to La Chaîne L’Equipe. I’m happy with my race and what I gave. I can’t say that I took advantage because the return to altitude is always difficult. I gave it my all, but maybe I lacked a little bit on the track and in my shooting, but I’m happy with what I gave.”
He wants more
Although he admits that he sometimes had “thoughts [that] came up” during his race, the Peiserot says that he didn’t feel the weight of the yellow bib on his shoulders.
“It’s my dream, I’ve been thinking about it for so long, so it seems natural in a way, he reveals. It makes you want to get back to it. The aim is to have it at the end of the season, but this was just a foretaste. I’m going to keep on fighting and trying to raise my level and we’ll see where it all takes me.”
This Saturday afternoon, in the pursuit, Eric Perrot will start 45 seconds off the lead. He could well make a fine comeback and return to the podium, which he would like to make his second home over the coming months.
Eric Perrot’s photo album in yellow
Eric Perrot on the cover of Nordic Magazine: CLICK HERE TO BUY THIS ISSUE
- The full programme for the Hochfilzen World Cup, the second stage of the 2024/2025 season
- Corinne Niogret: my best memory of… Hochfilzen
- “It’s like stepping out of the shadows into the light”: between Kontiolahti and Hochfilzen, the World Cup leaves the darkness behind to find the sun again
- “I just feel super happy to have achieved this”: how did Eric Perrot digest his victory in the Kontiolahti mass-start and his assumption of power in the general standings?
- “It’s like one last shot at victory, until you experience it, you don’t know what it’s like…”: during the Hochfilzen sprint, Eric Perrot will experience his first race with the yellow bib on his back.
- “There’s the Dominik Landertinger climb, which is really hard and long…”: Austria’s Anna Gandler describes the track and shooting range at Hochfilzen
- Hochfilzen: Sophie Chauveau, beaten only by Franziska Preuss in the sprint, takes her second World Cup podium finish
- “A mixture of pride, relief and recognition”: Sophie Chauveau, the podium that came just at the right time in the Hochfilzen sprint
- Hochfilzen: Franziska Preuss takes the yellow number from Elvira Oeberg thanks to her sprint success
- Hochfilzen: after the sprint, Océane Michelon once again wears the blue bib as the best U23 player
- More than four years after his last World Cup podium, Fabien Claude finishes third in the Hochfilzen sprint
- “I didn’t win, but for me it’s a great victory”: after 1,463 days without a win, how Fabien Claude returned to the World Cup podium
- “I’m still hungry for victory”: Johannes Thingnes Boe won the Hochfilzen sprint for the first time this season
- Hochfilzen: the photo album of Eric Perrot’s day with the yellow bib
