Biathlon: patrols take centre stage at the Military World Games
This Friday morning, the biathlon events at the Lucerne 2025 Military World Games come to a close with the patrol races. The final races of the Swiss week kick off at 9.30am in Goms (Susse).
Now largely unknown, this format nevertheless takes us back to the origins of biathlon , since it was included in the programme of the 1924 Olympic Games in Chamonix (Haute-Savoie).
“It changes a lot of things [compared to modern races], but it’s a treat because we’re in it together. We support each other and push each other, passing on our strengths,” Anaïs Bescond, coach of the French military team at this event,told Nordic Magazine.
Jules Lapierre and Flora Dolci as patrol leaders
The patrol is actually carried out in teams of four, with three shooters and a patrol leader who can be either a biathlete or a cross-country skier.
For France, this Friday in the Goms valley, it will be cross-country skiers as Jules Lapierre and Flora Dolci will be joined by Emilien Claude, Eric Perrot and Fabien Claude respectively, as well as Chloé Chevalier, Paula Botet and Lou Jeanmonnot.
In detail, the race consists of eight 2.5-kilometre laps for the men (20 kilometres in total) and six 2.5-kilometre laps for the women (15 kilometres in total).
Unusually for shooting, there are three shots: one prone, one standing and one prone. The three different biathletes in the patrol had to pass over the mats one after the other. Note that at the shooting range, athletes who are not shooting move to a box. If there are penalties, everyone turns together on the penalty ring, otherwise everyone leaves once the round is over.
Rifles can change shoulders during the race
As for the three rifles, they must be carried on the shoulders of the three biathletes, but they can change shoulders during the race. It’s not unusual for the cross-country skier to take the rifle of the one who’s having the hardest time on the track,” says Anaïs Bescond. It’s great for cohesion!
Cohesion is important, as the patrol has to stay together throughout the race, on pain of a one-minute penalty if the four athletes don’t stick together within 15 seconds. It is the last member of the patrol who takes the time at the finish.
Two years ago, at the 55th World Military Championships in Boden (Sweden), France shone in this patrol exercise, winning both races. At the time, Flora Dolci, Chloé Chevalier, Paula Botet and Lou Jeanmonnot were already part of the French women’s team, while Jules Lapierre, Fabien Claude, Antonin Guigonnat and Eric Perrot competed for the men.
Finally, it’s worth pointing out that Les Bleues are two-time holders of the patrol title at the World Military Games : in 2013 in Le Grand-Bornand (Haute-Savoie), Anaïs Bescond, Marine Bolliet, Coraline Hugue and Sophie Boilley won, as did Coline Varcin, Enora Latuillière, Estelle Mougel and Coraline Hugue again in 2017 in Sochi (Russia).
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