Biathlon : third podium in a row for Lou Jeanmonnot
For the tenth race in a row, she scored a top 10 finish in a World Cup event. It was her third consecutive podium finish. After finishing 2nd in the sprint and winning the pursuit in Ruhpolding (Germany), Lou Jeanmonnot finished second in the individual short race in Nove Mesto ( Czech Republic) on Friday 23 January.
Her very high standards have enabled her to soar in the overall World Cup standings. While Norway’s Maren Kirkeeide (3rd) and Sweden’s Hanna and Elvira Oeberg ( 4th and 5th) skipped the Czech stage, her Finnish runner-up Suvi Minkkinen finished only 22nd.
With eight races to go, the Frenchwoman has a 192-point lead in the overall standings, a margin of more than two victories. “Running does me good. It’s necessary and all to the good,” she told La chaîne L’Équipe.
Still looking for 20/20
With one second and four tenths to spare, she could even have won. But she was finally edged out by her compatriot and friend Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, at the end of a final lap in which the gap between them varied constantly to the nearest tenth.
“When I was told that Justine was only a second behind me, I didn’t really believe it. Because I know that Justine is generally faster than me. I’m surprised that it came down to so little”, she continues. She may have lost 25 seconds on the skis, but she gained just as much on the shooting range, where both scored 19/20.
A perfectionist, Lou Jeanmonnot also expressed regret at her mistake on the last upright. It was a similar comment to the one made after her victory in the pursuit at Ruhpolding, where she also made a mistake on the final shot.
“Today, it was difficult to ski. It felt much better yesterday. From the start, I told myself that this was a race that would come down to shooting. I’m disappointed again not to have managed a 20/20 this year. That’s the small disappointment of the race: I wanted to validate it between now and the Games”, she shares.
He still has one more four-shot exercise between now and the Milan/Cortina Olympics: on Sunday (6.15pm) on the mass start.
- The full programme for the Nove Mesto World Cup, the sixth stage of the 2025/2026 season
- Nove Mesto: Eric Perrot and Emilien Jacquelin do the double in the individual short, Oscar Lombardot and Emilien Claude in the flowers
- Nove Mesto: excellent overall result for Eric Perrot, who moves back to within 23 points of Tommaso Giacomel
- Eric Perrot smiles broadly after dominating the individual short in Nove Mesto: “It’s very satisfying to be back on the winning track”.
- “This performance comes at just the right time”: Emilien Jacquelin’s thoughts after his second place in the individual short at the Nove Mesto World Cup
- Oscar Lombardot and Emilien Claude: “It’s a real pleasure” and “I hung in there”, a top 6 that comes just at the right time before the 2026 Olympic Games.
- “The worst race of my career”: Sebastian Samuelsson, a big miss and a bad deal in the individual race in Nove Mesto
- Almost four years later, Lukas Hofer is back on the World Cup podium in Nove Mesto: “I’m very happy to have persevered”.
- 0/5 on the last shot, Endre Stroemsheim’s terrible crack on the individual short in Nove Mesto
- Nove Mesto: Justine Braisaz-Bouchet wins the individual race just one breath ahead of Lou Jeanmonnot
- Nove Mesto: on the podium in the individual short, Lou Jeanmonnot now has a lead of more than two victories over Suvi Minkkinen in the overall standings.
- Siri Skar seventh and revelation of the Nove Mesto individual short: “It’s completely crazy”.
