Biathlon: five Frenchwomen at the start of the sprint at the World Championships in Lenzerheide
This Friday, the individual events at the 2025 Biathlon World Championships in Lenzerheide (Switzerland) kick off with the women’s sprint. Covering a distance of 7.5km, it will feature two shots – one prone and one standing – for all the competitors taking part. Among them will be five Frenchwomen. While the quota for the top nations is normally four places, why should one more Frenchwoman be lined up in the canton of Graubünden?
To find the answer, you need to turn to the IBU’s instructive rules governing events and competitions. It is two paragraphs of this very precise biathlon legislation that have enabled Les Bleues to be one more in this World Championship sprint.
Firstly, as she is the reigning world champion in the sprint and pursuit, Julia Simon from Beaufort has an extra quota in her name for this event, in accordance with point 12.6.1.1.1.c) of the regulations.
The presence of the five Frenchwomen in the top 15 means one more place in the ranking.
Then there is point 12.6.1.1.1.b) of the same regulations. This paragraph states the following: “Federations with more than four athletes ranked in the top 15 of the overall World Cup standings are entitled to enter these competitors, but the quota may not exceed five athletes per Federation”.
As a result, Lou Jeanmonnot, Julia Simon, Jeanne Richard, Océane Michelon and Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, all in the top 15 of the World Cup at this stage of the winter, will all be able to take part in the World Championship sprint.
In fact, it’s important to emphasise that the French women’s team didn’t need to fulfil the two points requirement to be five in this world championships sprint. Only one of the two was sufficient, which means that the five Tricolores, via their overall ranking on the world circuit, were all guaranteed to be at the start of this event. Not to mention Julia Simon’s extra quota as reigning world champion.
- The full programme for the World Championships in Lenzerheide, the highlight of the 2024/2025 season
- Léna Arnaud: my best memory of… Lenzerheide
- Swiss biathlete Arnaud Du Pasquier presents the Roland Arena, the Lenzerheide stadium used for the 2025 World Championships
- Delphyne Burlet on the challenges of the Lenzerheide world championships
- Two of the four reigning world champions have been retained: the French mixed relay line-up for Wednesday’s opening round of the World Championships in Lenzerheide.
- “We decided to follow the sporting logic”: Stéphane Bouthiaux explains how the French mixed relay team for the World Championships in Lenzerheide was put together.
- Quentin Fillon-Maillet annoyed at being sidelined in the mixed relay at the world championships in Lenzerheide: “I thought I deserved more consideration from the staff”.
- “We’re aiming for the title”: one year after their triumph in Nove Mesto, France will attempt to make it two in a row in the mixed relay at the World Championships in Lenzerheide.
- Mixed relay in Lenzerheide: the first day on which Johannes Thingnes Boe could become the most successful biathlete in the history of the World Championships
- Lenzerheide: France, with Julia Simon, Lou Jeanmonnot, Eric Perrot and Emilien Jacquelin, retain their world mixed relay title
- “We couldn’t have got off to a better start than this”: the perfect start for the French team, which won gold in the mixed relay at the world championships in Lenzerheide.
- “I don’t feel like I made a mistake”: Julia Simon recounts her collision with Sweden’s Anna Magnusson during the mixed relay in Lenzerheide
- Julia Simon and Sebastian Samuelsson crashed, Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold and Hanna Oeberg failed to shoot: an opening mixed relay full of twists and turns in Lenzerheide
- Lenzerheide: Czech Republic surprise silver medallists in mixed relay
- Lenzerheide: seventh in the mixed relay with Lukas Hofer and Tommaso Giacomel, Italy’s Hannah Auchentaller and Dorothea Wierer battled it out on the difficult Swiss track
- “It was fun”: during the mixed relay at the World Championships in Lenzerheide, Britain’s Shawna Pendry was surprised to ski with her idol Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold.
- Lenzerheide: the day after her fall in the mixed relay, Julia Simon did not take part in the day’s official training session
