Biathlon | Milan/Cortina 2026 Olympics: barring a major feat, no more than four French women will be able to start the Olympic mass start

Biathlon: no more than four athletes per nation in the Olympic Games mass start

At the World Championships, a rule allows a nation with more than four athletes in the top 15 of the overall ranking to field five, but there is no such rule for the Olympic Games.

At the Milan/Cortina 2026 Olympics , scheduled from 6 to 22 February in Antholz (Italy), the French women will be limited to four representatives in the queen’s race , as they were in the sprint/pursuit and individual races held earlier in the fortnight.

At present, however, Lou Jeanmonnot, Camille Bened, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, Océane Michelon and Julia Simon are all in the top 15, while Jeanne Richard should be in the top 15 after this week’s races in Nove Mesto (Czech Republic).

There is one case where a nation can enter more than four athletes in the Olympic mass-start.

“Whatever the number of athletes from a nation in the top 15, the quota per country will be limited to a maximum of four,” Christophe Vassallo, head of theInternational Biathlon Union ‘s(IBU) technical committee, told Nordic Magazine.

In fact, it is possible for a nation to field more than four athletes at the start of the Olympic mass start. That’s if it has more than four medallists,” reveals Christophe Vassallo. In that case, all the medallists will qualify, whatever their number.

A possibility that is highly unlikely to happen, barring some huge feat.

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