Biathlon: no individual victory for… almost 3 years for France
With the Biathlon World Cup in Ruhpolding (Germany) opening with an individual men’s race this Wednesday afternoon, the French team is approaching this particular exercise as leader of the Nations Cup.
However, it could lose the lead after this race, as no Frenchman has managed to win an individual since… that of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games won by Quentin Fillon-Maillet.
Since then, nine individuals have competed in World Cups and World Championships. The results? No successes, but no podiums for Les Bleus either.
However, Jean-Pierre Amat is optimistic about today’s competition: “When you have a team of shooters who move fast enough, which is the case with ours, things can click. This year, they’ve clearly turned a corner. If last year we weren’t at our best individually, this time I’m confident,” he tells L’Equipe.
Shooting, the key to the individual
“We need profiles that know how to maintain a constant effort over time and have solid nerves at the end of the race when there’s something to play for,” says his team-mate Simon Fourcade. This was the case for QFM during his exceptional 2021/2022 season.
“For me, the two most typical individual profiles are Quentin [Fillon-Maillet], who manages to take things on board, and Eric [Perrot], who is very solid with his shots and over whom the pressure of the result has little hold. Emilien [Jacquelin] may have the profile, except that with his explosive qualities, he tends to try a little too hard at times and that costs him at the end of the race,” adds the French team’s fitness coach.
Above all, there’s no secret to individual play: missed balls are very costly (1 minute penalty). So it’s on the mats that the French will be expected to perform.“This is not an event for mad dogs. It’s not a question of energy, it’s a problem of lucidity”, concludes Jean-Pierre Amat.
- The full programme for the Ruhpolding World Cup, the fifth stage of the 2024/2025 season
- Corinne Niogret: my best memory of… Ruhpolding
- Same old, same old: the French selection for the Ruhpolding World Cup
- Beijing 2022: Quentin Fillon-Maillet crowned King of Olympus in the individual event
