Biathlon: second place but no small globe in mixed events for France
On Sunday afternoon, at the close of the Biathlon World Cup in Pokljuka (Slovenia), the French team came second in the mixed relay. Although this was an unexpected result after a disastrous start to the race, it did not allow Les Bleus to retain the lead in the mixed events ranking, which was won by Sweden.
Eric Perrot and Quentin Fillon-Maillet, who took over from Jeanne Richard and Océane Michelon in this relay, spoke to Nordic Magazine in the mixed zone.
Eric Perrot, third relay
“I like the different scenarios that the relays offer. Sometimes you start 30 seconds ahead, sometimes, like here, you’re 30 seconds behind. It was a bit of a chase this time, behind two leading teams, and that puts a bit of pressure on me because I know that if I miss a bit, it’s all over. I’m taking this role to heart, and it feels really good when it works!”
“That was the only way to get back, even if skiing hard saves a few seconds. I can see that there are quite a few mistakes up front and that there are opportunities. I wanted to go for it and see if I could do it or not. I think I succeeded, and that’s what allowed us to get back together.”
“Of course it’s frustrating because, honestly, we had the best team to go for the globe, but we failed a few times with a ball here and a ball there. On the other hand, we won the mixed relays at the World Championships, so you have to look at the positive!”
Quentin Fillon-Maillet, fourth relay runner
“There’s more satisfaction than disappointment, even though I’m disappointed to have missed three balls on my downward leg. That meant we missed the opportunity to go for the globe and victory at the same time. I have a little taste of unfinished business from this race, but that’s part and parcel of biathlon. Despite everything, I enjoyed myself and put up a really good fight right to the end!”
“When I got to the standing shot, I saw that Sweden had gone,,, bending the race, but I saw that Norway were already two picks away. There was a real opportunity and, despite everything, Isak [Frey] shot very quickly and we came out together. Not knowing the athletes, it was difficult to plan a strategy. I stayed in front and attacked in the bumps, my plan working.”
[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
- “I ask myself a lot of questions, I go over everything all the time…”. For Lou Jeanmonnot, the hunt for the big crystal globe is above all a mental battle.
- Pokljuka: Lou Jeanmonnot wins the mass-start ahead of Milena Todorova and Anamarija Lampic, with Jeanne Richard fourth.
- Ahead of the finals in Oslo-Holmenkollen, Lou Jeanmonnot takes big points off Franziska Preuss in the battle for the big globe
- Lou Jeanmonnot talks to Nordic Magazine after winning the Pokljuka mass-start: “I’m really proud to have been able to deal with my racing thoughts”.
- “She’s proving to herself that she can do it”: Cyril Burdet savours Lou Jeanmonnot’s new victory in Pokljuka
- Record number of wins in a single season, success in all formats: by winning the Pokljuka mass-start, Lou Jeanmonnot made history.
- Pokljuka: Jeanne Richard back in the blue bib as best U23 with three races to go
- Jeanne Richard makes no secret of her ambition when it comes to the blue bib: “I said to myself that I had to go and get it on Sunday 23 March and I will go and get it on Sunday 23 March”.
- “I guess the bad weather suits us”: Slovenia’s fine week at home after Jakov Fak’s victory and Anamarija Lampic’s podium finish
- Pokljuka: Eric Perrot wins the mass start ahead of Quentin Fillon-Maillet and Sturla Holm Lægreid, with Fabien Claude just off the podium.
- Eric Perrot recounts his duel with Quentin Fillon-Maillet to win the Pokljuka mass-start: “I managed to accelerate at the right moment”.
- Quentin Fillon-Maillet still ambitious after his second place in the Pokljuka mass-start: “A season is played out right to the end!
- Pokljuka: Sturla Holm Lægreid overcomes Johannes Thingnes Boe in the mass start to take a 104-point lead overall
- “I think I’ll continue, I’ll be here at the start of the season”: ninth in the Pokljuka mass-start after becoming a father, Antonin Guigonnat has not said his last word.
- Julia Simon and Lou Jeanmonnot rested: the line-ups of the French mixed relays in Pokljuka
- Pokljuka: the small globe in the mixed events and a (new) record in the sights of the French team this Sunday in Slovenia
- Pokljuka: Aita Gasparin and Niklas Hartweg give Switzerland its first victory in a mixed singles relay, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Emilien Jacquelin fourth
- Aita Gasparin and Niklas Hartweg, winners of the Pokljuka mixed singles relay, tell Nordic Magazine : “It’s so nice to be at the top”.
- “We wanted to do better” and “I didn’t have anything to play for”: Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Emilien Jacquelin’s reactions after their fourth place in the Pokljuka mixed singles relay.
