Biathlon: Lou Jeanmonnot in yellow one year on
On 9 December 2023, in Hochfilzen (Austria), Haute-Double biathlete Lou Jeanmonnot wore the yellow bib of overall World Cup leader for the first time in her career. It was the day after a sprint that finished in fifteenth place, and she took advantage of her good start to the season, but above all Franziska Preuss ‘s withdrawal, to don it.
“It fell on me,” she recalls to Nordic Magazine, as she gets the chance to put it on again this Saturday at the sprint in Kontiolahti (Finland). This time, for the record, it will be completely yellow, whereas it was two-tone in Austria.
“I went and got it, the context is very different. I’ve earned this yellow jersey,” she repeated as she took the lead in the general standings following her brilliant success in Wednesday’s individual short race .
She wants to wear this yellow number “nicely”
This sun-coloured bib, which was so hard for her to wear a year ago, Lou Jeanmonnot wants to turn it into an asset this time round. “This summer, I thought about the relatively negative feelings I had last year with this jersey. I also thought about how I’d like it to feel this year. I want to be able to wear it beautifully, to make it my strength and not my weakness”, she also announced.
Speaking toEurosport, she goes further: “I know that it gives you energy, but it also sucks a lot. You have to find the right balance. For example, [last year in Hochfilzen], I was so tense that the settings were very difficult. I know from experience what that feels like. I still don’t have the key to avoiding it, but I can more or less anticipate it.”
If she is to achieve her ambitious goal at the start of the season – to play for the crystal globe all season long – Lou Jeanmonnot is going to have to get used to the pressure of the yellow bib. That’s what she likes to call her “personal challenge”.
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- 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
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- 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
