Biathlon: seventh success of the winter for Lou Jeanmonnot
On Saturday afternoon, Lou Jeanmonnot from Doubs won the mass start of the Biathlon World Cup in Pokljuka (Slovenia). Winner for the seventh time this winter on the world circuit, the Franc-Comtoise comes within 20 points of Franziska Preuss in the overall standings.
After the official ceremony, Lou Jeanmonnot spoke to Nordic Magazine about her performance and its consequences. Interview.
- Can you tell us about this victory, which is obviously a great pleasure?
It’s a pleasure and feels good! It wasn’t easy on skis, the conditions were more or less horrible. It was very difficult to ski. As I know that I’m doing very well on skis at the moment, it’s an advantage to know that the piste is very difficult. I took advantage of it every chance I got. On the shooting range, I made a small mistake, caused by my parasitic thoughts, but, on the last stand, I really focused on having impeccable technique and it worked. There’s a kind of relief and a real pride in having managed to deal with my distracting thoughts by finding different solutions each time.
- In the individual short, you told us that you came in tense behind the rifle. Was it different this time?
The idea was to get inside that target and not be afraid of it any more. I wanted to face up to what had previously scared me. I’m just about OK with that fear and I’m looking it in the face, with the desire to get into it and get out of it in the best possible way. I went into the race in that frame of mind.
- You will arrive in Oslo-Holmenkollen (Norway) just 20 points behind Franziska Preuss…
I can’t wait to be in Oslo! I’ve got lots of friends coming, and my family will be there too [they’re already in Pokljuka, editor’s note]. I’m looking forward to racing there too because I’m lucky enough to still be doing really well on skis. It’s a lot easier psychologically to arrive on the piste when you know you’ve got something to fight for on skis. At the moment, I’m looking forward to it, but I know that on Thursday evening, I’ll be terrified and that it’ll have to go until Sunday [laughs]!
- It’s your seventh win of the season and you become the most successful Frenchwoman in history over a single winter. Does that mean a lot to you?
It’s difficult to say because I find it hard [to compare]. All the contexts are different, depending on the season and the biathlete. I imagine that a biathlete who wears the yellow jersey all season, it’s harder for her to win… I suppose it’s easier for me to win. But it’s significant because it shows that I’m having a great season and that I can at least be proud of that.
[With Julie and Marie Le Bobinnec, in Pokljuka].
- The full programme for the Pokljuka World Cup, the eighth stage of the 2024/2025 season
- Corinne Niogret: my best memory of… Pokljuka
- Lou Jeanmonnot vs Franziska Preuss and Johannes Thingnes Boe vs Sturla Holm Lægreid: in Pokljuka, a high-risk individual race in the race for the big crystal globe
- Pokljuka: Julia Simon follows up her victory by winning the individual short at 20/20, all the French women in the top 10
- Julia Simon tells Nordic Magazine after her success in the Pokljuka individual short: “I’m very happy to have built up this race in such a beautiful way”.
- Pokljuka: Lou Jeanmonnot wins the small crystal globe in the individual event, a first for a Frenchwoman
- Pokljuka: third in the individual short, Franziska Preuss claws back points from Lou Jeanmonnot in the race for the big globe
- “I’m not going to give up”: Lou Jeanmonnot tells Nordic Magazine after the individual short in Pokljuka
- Pokljuka: Océane Michelon takes command of the U23 rankings and will be wearing blue for the mass-start
- Océane Michelon, fifth in the Pokljuka individual short: “I’m copying and pasting from Kontiolahti”.
- Pokljuka: Jakov Fak wins the individual short on home soil, his first success since… 22 March 2015, Quentin Fillon-Maillet with the flowers
- “I’d love to grow old like him”, “I don’t have enough words to describe it”: Emilien Jacquelin and Eric Perrot impressed by Jakov Fak’s victory in Pokljuka at the age of 37
- Pokljuka: Sturla Holm Lægreid takes over the overall lead from Johannes Thingnes Boe after the individual short race
- Pokljuka: the small individual crystal globe for Sturla Holm Lægreid, as in 2021
- Pokljuka: reactions from Quentin Fillon-Maillet, Eric Perrot, Emilien Jacquelin, Oscar Lombardot, Emilien Claude and Fabien Claude after the individual short race
- Surprise for the French team: Antonin Guigonnat will start the mass start in Pokljuka
- Johannes Thingnes Boe withdraws for the end of the Pokljuka stage
- Pokljuka: no mass-start for Dorothea Wierer either
