Biathlon: Simon Fourcade reflects on his biathletes’ fine winter
During the 2024/2025 season, the French men’s biathlon team turned things around. Winners of the small globes in the national cup and the relay, five of the French men have scored at least one individual World Cup podium .
After two more difficult winters, the Tricolores also performed well at the World Championships. Nearly a fortnight after the end of the season, Simon Fourcade agreed to give Nordic Magazine his assessment. Interview.
- Looking back over the 2024/2025 season, what is your assessment of the French men’s biathlon team?
It’s quite satisfying! I’m not one to rave in general, so I’m not going to do that here. I’m a bit demanding and I tend to stand back a lot from what’s going on. Nevertheless, in all humility and without pretension, when a team manages to win the nations’ ranking for the first time, win the relay globe and win world medals in both the individual and relay events, we can only be satisfied with the season. But we mustn’t make too much of it and boast. We’re approaching an important winter in which we’re going to have to respond, perhaps even more strongly. We know we’ve got what it takes, and it’s up to us to confirm that in the coming fixtures.
- In the winter of 2023/2024, your first season in charge of Les Bleus with Jean-Pierre Amat, it was more complicated in terms of results. Were there any doubts about the group’s ability to produce a season as good as the one that has just ended?
Yes! I never thought we’d have a season like this. Our results were much more modest. A lot of people said it was a bad season, but I don’t totally agree. We had a complicated start, admittedly, and then a far from satisfactory World Championships, but we still finished second in the Nations Cup, ahead of the Germans and the Swedes. That shows that there were a lot of good things going on and we had a great end to the season with some very good results. We saw this season as a failure, but that’s also because the demands on biathlon have become incredible. You have to realise that this is the golden age of French biathlon and that it won’t be every year like this winter. You have to put things in context.
“It’s very satisfying and gratifying to be able to achieve such convincing results even in a second year”Simon Fourcade to Nordic Magazine
- What has made your group so successful?
The squad hasn’t changed much from last season. It’s just that some of them have matured and others have managed to get back into the game. The other parameter to take into account is the glide. Last year was the first year without fluorine and it took a while to adapt. This winter, if there was one area where we really performed well, it was the glide! What has also enabled us to shine is that this is our second season at the head of the group with Jean-Pierre Amat. Everything has fallen into place and it’s very satisfying and gratifying to be able to achieve such convincing results in just our second year.
- In physical terms, your biathletes also showed great promise…
I think the preparation was much better this year, but there was a lot of uncertainty in my mind at the start of the season… We used a much more offensive method in terms of the areas of work, with a lot more high-intensity sessions. I have to admit that I didn’t feel very confident, even after a successful start to the season! I was always wondering how far I could go? You couldn’t go over the limit. So I was very pleased to see that we were able to find the right balance by adapting our training to keep us going throughout the season.
“There are areas for personal improvement for each of the boys”Simon Fourcade to Nordic Magazine
- What room for manoeuvre remains before the Olympic preparations that begin next month?
We’re coming off an almost perfect season. From an accounting point of view, it’s going to be hard to do better, even if we can still hope to win a big globe and some small individual ones. There are areas for personal improvement for each of the boys, like Quentin’s [Fillon-Maillet] prone shot. Generally speaking, we tended to fall in level as the periods went by. We attacked very strongly at the first World Cup, then we tended to lose momentum at the other two, and we really struggled to finish at the last one. So that’s another area we’re working on over the summer, to enable the guys to maintain a high level of performance over the three-week blocks.
- From a personal point of view, while you’re still a game coach on the World Cup circuit, is it a relief to see that what you put in place in the summer works in the winter?
It’s very gratifying, that’s for sure! After that, I’m most grateful to see that the athletes have put their trust in me for a second year and that it’s paying off. Seeing in their eyes after the races that they’re happy with what we’re doing, that’s the most gratifying thing. It’s great to have managed to get the guys back up to the level they’re at. It wasn’t easy and it was quite a challenge when Jean-Pierre [Amat] and I took over the team 2 years ago. When we got the lads back, they were in the downward phase of the previous cycle. To see that we managed to turn things around in the second year is my greatest personal satisfaction. They don’t regret the trust they put in us.
- The French men’s team triumphs at the Nations Cup for the first time in its history
- “He’s a great man, and he’ll continue to be”: Simon Fourcade’s joy after Eric Perrot won the world title in the individual event in Lenzerheide
- Cyril Burdet talks to Nordic Magazine about the French women’s excellent 2024/2025 season: “Everyone’s making a contribution”.
