Biathlon: back on the podium for Eric Perrot
We may be starting to repeat ourselves, but at the start of 2026, the men’s head-to-head races are of a rare and magnificent intensity. Last week, in Oberhof (Germany), the pursuit and the relay already offered some exceptional scenarios. On Thursday, it was the same for the relay in Ruhpolding (Germany), and it was the same this Sunday afternoon for the Bavarian pursuit.
For Les Bleus, this final race of the fifth leg of the 2025/2026 Biathlon World Cup was a rollercoaster ride. Peiserot Eric Perrot, fifth at the start, initially missed two targets on his first run on the recumbent. However, he performed well on the cross-country skis and then on the mats to come out on top in the fourth shot with 17/20.
The Savoyard was on course for victory… except that Norwegian Johannes Dale-Skjevdal (19/20), 6.8 seconds behind him, was not having any of it. He caught up with him and then overtook him in the final kilometres to claim a solo victory, his first World Cup win since… the 2024 pursuit in Ruhpolding. Second-placed Eric Perrot nevertheless returned to the podium and picked up some precious points overall.
Fabien Claude’s incredible rise to fourth place
Fabien Claude was on another rollercoaster. Thirty-seventh at the start of the pursuit after missing his sprint, he made a fantastic comeback to finish in fourth place… less than a second off the podium, completed by Sweden’s Martin Ponsiluoma (16/20). With a score of 18/20, the man from the Vosges region came within a whisker of pulling off a huge coup just three weeks away from the 2026 Olympics.
Tommaso Giacomel (15/20) and Sebastian Samuelsson (16/10) then enter the flower ceremony ahead of Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen (19/20), Emilien Jacquelin (16/20), Isak Frey (18/20) and Philipp Nawrath (17/20), the last member of the day’s top 10.
Quentin Fillon-Maillet (16/20) was fourteenth, whileEmilien Claude (19/20) moved up twenty-seven places to twenty-sixth and Oscar Lombardot (17/20) thirty-fourth.
Full results
C73D_v1-21- The full programme for the Ruhpolding World Cup, the fifth stage of the 2025/2026 season
- Caroline Colombo: my best memory of… Ruhpolding
- Ruhpolding World Cup: Norway with Johan-Olav Botn, still uncertain, Sturla Holm Lægreid, Juni Arnekleiv and Siri Skar
- Dorothea Wierer and Lisa Vittozzi are back after their stalemate: Italy with eleven for Ruhpolding
- Sophia Schneider and Danilo Riethmueller retained, Philipp Horn still sidelined: the German squad for the World Cup in Ruhpolding
- Ruhpolding: Sweden’s selection for the fifth round of the World Cup
- Lisa Theresa Hauser back from illness, first for Lukas Haslinger: Austria’s selection for the Ruhpolding World Cup
- Emilien Claude replaces Valentin Lejeune, women’s squad unchanged: France’s selection for the Ruhpolding World Cup
- “I’ll be thinking about the Olympics if I get my selection”: after a winter disrupted by illness, Emilien Claude returns to the World Cup in Ruhpolding
- Jeanne Richard, Emilien Claude and Oscar Lombardot in favourable positions for Olympic qualification: lessons from the French selection for Ruhpolding
- Ruhpolding World Cup: Slovakia with Paulina Batovska Fialkova, back from a training camp in Lavazè
- Ruhpolding: Belgium unveils its eight-strong biathlon squad
- Coralie Langel’s second World Cup appearance and Jeremy Finello’s comeback: Switzerland announces its squad for Ruhpolding
- Ruhpolding: Slovenia led by Anamarija Lampic and still without Jakov Fak
- The Czech Republic’s selection for the Ruhpolding World Cup
- Johan-Olav Botn finally withdraws from the Ruhpolding World Cup
- Ruhpolding: no relay for Tommaso Giacomel, rested
- “She’s not feeling 100%”: why isn’t Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold taking part in the Ruhpolding relay?
- Ruhpolding: Norway, led by an immense Maren Kirkeeide, wins the relay ahead of Italy and Sweden, with France fourth
- “There were better than us today”: the scarecrows of the last relay before the 2026 Olympics, how Les Bleues let the podium slip away in Ruhpolding
- “It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever experienced”: with an incredible Maren Kirkeeide, the Norwegians won their first relay since March 2024.
- The top three teams in 3 seconds: the Ruhpolding relay, the closest relay in the history of women’s biathlon
- Ruhpolding: Emilien Jacquelin withdraws from the relay, Oscar Lombardot replaces him
- Ruhpolding: Fabien Claude, Oscar Lombardot, Quentin Fillon-Maillet and Eric Perrot win the relay at the end of the suspense
- “Boy, does that feel good! Les Bleus take a weight off their shoulders after winning the last relay before the 2026 Olympic Games in Ruhpolding
- 30 km out, called up at the last minute, solid and victorious relay: Oscar Lombardot’s crazy day at Ruhpolding
- Ruhpolding: the sprint for Hanna Oeberg, Lou Jeanmonnot excellent second
- Ruhpolding: second in the sprint, Lou Jeanmonnot consolidates her yellow bib as World Cup leader
- “I was almost inhibited”: despite the stress, how Lou Jeanmonnot, second, managed to pull off a boss’s sprint in Ruhpolding
- “I don’t think she’ll be at the start of the pursuit”: Julia Simon, 62nd in sprint skiing, raced ill
- Julia Simon makes her withdrawal from the Ruhpolding pursuit official
- “Sprint victories stay in the family”: at Ruhpolding, Hanna Oeberg continues the series started with her sister
- “Boring, frustrating, exhausting”: in distress at Ruhpolding, Océane Michelon struggles to regain her sensations
- Ruhpolding: a cut above the rest, Sebastian Samuelsson wins the sprint, Quentin Fillon-Maillet and Eric Perrot just off the podium
- “I’m very moved”: Sebastian Samuelsson wins his first sprint of the winter in Ruhpolding
- “I’m continuing to build on my solidity”: fifth just a few seconds off the podium in the Ruhpolding sprint, Eric Perrot stays the course
- “I outdid myself”: Emilien Jacquelin, still ill, finished seventh in the sprint at Ruhpolding
- Ruhpolding: boss-like Lou Jeanmonnot triumphs in the pursuit, Camille Bened superb third
- Ruhpolding: winner of the pursuit, Lou Jeanmonnot opens up a gap in the general standings ahead of the Nove Mesto stage
- “Today’s strategy was to be patient”: how Lou Jeanmonnot put her stamp on the World Cup by dominating the pursuit in Ruhpolding
- “I’m really happy to have been able to put everything together”: Camille Bened’s satisfaction at her return to the podium in the Ruhpolding pursuit
- From 32nd place to the flower ceremony: Océane Michelon’s huge comeback in the pursuit at Ruhpolding
