Biathlon: Bassurois Emilien Claude at the top of his game
Five days ago, in our columns and in the wake of his eighth place in the Oberhof sprint (Germany), Vosgien Emilien Claude revealed that he had found what had been wrong with his rifle since the start of the season. “One of the screws on my barrel was too long and so my barrel wasn’t sitting in the biding, the part that holds the barrel in place. Every time I fired, the shot went off randomly… When I shoot in the middle, now it goes in the middle”, he was delighted to say.
Thirteenth in the Thuringian pursuit that followed, the man from Bassur went into this new stage of the world cup in Ruhpolding (Germany) with confidence. “Now I’ll be more confident about the rest of the season because I know it will be positive if I do things right,” he said. On Wednesday afternoon, with number 39 on his back, Emilien Claude put in the best performance of his career.
20/20… only beaten by Vebjoern Soerum
With a magnificent 20/20 on the mats, the Frenchman made a big impression behind the rifle. This perfect score, combined with a ski time within 2 minutes of the best, earned him a place on the podium. He was in the lead at the finish after beating Latvia’s Andrejs Rastorgujevs (19/20) by 5.7 seconds, but in the end was only beaten by Norway’s Vebjoern Soerum (20/20), who won his first World Cup event by an impressive 52.1 seconds.
Emilien Claude becomes the first Frenchman to reach the podium in an individual event since Quentin Fillon-Maillet won the podium at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games.
Above all, as Gilles Marguet had hoped in his Oberhof debrief,he adds density to the French men’s team and confirms his good form at the start of 2025. ” The emulation that arises from the uncertainty of the confrontation allows us to go for the ball at every moment”, says the Doubois native and 2001 world relay champion.
No other Frenchmen in the top 10, Johannes Thingnes Boe freewheels
The day’s flower ceremony was completed by Niklas Hartweg (19/20), Vitezslav Hornig (20/20) and Sebastian Samuelsson (18/20), while Otto Inevnius (20/20), Johannes Dale-Skjevdal (18/20), David Komatz (20/20) and Joscha Burkhalter (19/20) rounded out the top 10.
As for the other French competitors, Fabien Claude (18/20) and Eric Perrot (18/20) tied for twelfth, Antonin Guigonnat (18/20) fifteenth, Emilien Jacquelin (18/20) nineteenth and Quentin Fillon-Maillet (17/20) twenty-fourth.
Last but not least, there was a cracking XXL performance from the yellow bib of Johannes Thingnes Boe (15/20), eighty-fifth in the rankings and totally demoralised at the end of the race.
The very first for 𝗘𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗲! 🎆
With a perfect shot and a superb finish, our tricolore takes his first World Cup podium at the end of the individual in Ruhpolding! 🇲🇫🔥 pic.twitter.com/rYui4ihsSI– FFS – Fédération Française de Ski (@FedFranceSki) January 15, 2025
Full results
- The full programme for the Ruhpolding World Cup, the fifth stage of the 2024/2025 season
- Corinne Niogret: my best memory of… Ruhpolding
- Ruhpolding: time for a return to individual success for Les Bleus
