Biathlon: best career result for Campbell Wright
Since switching to the American flag in the summer of 2023, New Zealand biathlete Campbell Wright has made rapid progress. Crowned world junior sprint champion in the winter of 2022/2023 in the colours of the All Blacks, his best World Cup result that season was fifteenth in the individual race in Antholz (Italy).
The Rotorua (New Zealand) native has continued to progress with his stars and stripes, breaking into the top 10 last year and even taking part in a flower ceremony at Soldier Hollow (USA). This Wednesday, Campbell Wright came very close to doing even better in the sprint at Kontiolahti (Finland).
He started in the middle of the red group of favourites and went on to score 10 out of 10, taking the lead by a wide margin as he crossed the finish line. “When I saw that I was first at the finish, with my number 49, I knew it was going to be a great day. It was a great feeling,” he said afterwards in an interview with the IBU.
He is recovering from illness
While Emilien Jacquelin, the brilliant winner, Sebastian Samuelsson and Philipp Nawrath went on to finish ahead, Campbell Wright put in a superb performance to finish fourth, just off the podium.
“It’s good because I was taking antibiotics until a fortnight ago and I had a fever, he reveals. I told myself that I could be fast, and I was, so I’m really happy!”
Twenty-eighth in last Tuesday’s individual short, the American wasn’t worried. The boy is used to difficult starts in the marathon biathlon.
“Last year, I was supposed to have the 100th fastest time in this individual race, but this year I was 40th, so it was better! Despite everything, my result is still a huge surprise, he admits. Honestly, it’s great when someone tells you that you’re in such a good position after the standing shot. It’s also an exercise in patience because you want to give it your all, but above all you have to stay relaxed and chill.”
With Ukrainian Vitalii Mandzyn battling it out for the blue number for the best U23, it’s a safe bet that Campbell Wright will be back at the top of the rankings this winter.
- The full programme for the Kontiolahti World Cup, the first stage of the 2024/2025 season
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- World Cup overall leaders celebrated: this season, the IBU is introducing a yellow bib award ceremony
- World Cup: IBU logo replaces start number on distinctive bibs
- After the opening relays, what is the programme for the second week of the Kontiolahti World Cup?
- Kontiolahti: where does Emilien Jacquelin’s “Night Night” celebration at the relay finish line come from?
- “I can’t wait to see how he performs”, “He’s progressed, he deserves it”: Emilien Claude’s return to the World Cup is a source of great joy to those close to him, Anna Gandler and Fabien Claude.
- “It’s time for me to come into my own and become the biathlete I was a few years ago”: Fabien Claude, the winter of affirmation at last?
- Kontiolahti: Endre Stroemsheim, at 20/20, beats Johannes Thingnes Boe in the individual short, Quentin Fillon-Maillet and Eric Perrot with the flowers
- Kontiolahti: for the first time in his career, Endre Stroemsheim will don the yellow World Cup leader’s bib
- “My best race ever”: Endre Stroemsheim and the Norwegians put everyone in agreement at Kontiolahti
- “With a full house, we could have been ahead…”: satisfaction, but also frustration for Quentin Fillon-Maillet and Eric Perrot, in the top 6 of the individual short in Kontiolahti.
- Ukraine’s Vitalii Mandzyn, sensation of the individual short with his fourth place: “I hope this is just the beginning”.
- “A dream come true”: ninth in the individual short in Kontiolahti, Thierry Langer scored his first World Cup top 10 finish
- “It’s performances and results that count”: in Kontiolahti and Hochfilzen, the seven girls in the French team are fighting to take part in the Grand-Bornand World Cup.
- Lou Jeanmonnot is about to embark on the season of all possibilities: “Playing the globe honestly, trying to keep a jersey and manage the pressure”.
- Kontiolahti: Julia Simon undergoes an MRI scan early this afternoon
- Kontiolahti: still uncertain about Julia Simon’s state of health on the eve of the individual short race
- Kontiolahti: despite injuring her left calf on the relay last Sunday, Julia Simon is taking part in the individual short race.
- Kontiolahti: on cloud nine with a 20/20, Lou Jeanmonnot dominates the individual short and gets her season off to an ideal start
- Kontiolahti: after wearing it for the first time in Hochfilzen in December 2023, Lou Jeanmonnot takes the yellow bib once again
- Kontiolahti: in Saturday’s sprint, Océane Michelon will become the first Frenchwoman to wear the blue number
- Lou Jeanmonnot’s satisfaction after her success in the Kontiolahti individual short: “I’m relieved to see that I’m not out of my depth”.
- “I didn’t feel any pain”: despite a modest 31st place in the Kontiolahti individual short, Julia Simon was reassuring about her left calf.
- “Beyond anything I could have imagined”: Ella Halvarsson, tears over her first World Cup podium in the individual short in Kontiolahti
- “I still can’t believe it”: the joy of Poland’s Natalia Sidorowicz, fourth in the individual short at Kontiolahti
- Frozen fingers, rifle problems, 92nd at the finish: Anamarija Lampic had one problem after another in the individual short at Kontiolahti.
- “It’s good for my head”: Anna Gandler explains why she does juggling sessions before her World Cup races
- Kontiolahti: Emilien Jacquelin, with a 10/10, takes the sprint and wins the World Cup for the first time in almost three years
- Kontiolahti: Emilien Jacquelin takes the red sprint bib, Johannes Thingnes Boe in yellow
- “There’s nothing exceptional about it”: after his magnificent success in the Kontiolahti sprint, Emilien Jacquelin is not getting carried away.
- Emilien Jacquelin tells Nordic Magazine after his resounding victory in the Kontiolahti sprint: “On the podium, I saw myself again three years ago in Le Grand-Bornand…”.
- “I had tears in my eyes”: Ole Einar Bjoerndalen was marked by Emilien Jacquelin’s return to favour
- “It did me good to get away from group A”: Antonin Guigonnat returned to the World Cup top 10 in the Kontiolahti sprint
