Biathlon: a look back at the Les Bleus training camp in Font-Romeu
Before heading to Munich (Germany) or La Féclaz (Savoie) last weekend to put on their bibs, the biathletes in the French men’s team had been on altitude training for almost two weeks at Font-Romeu (Pyrénées-Orientales). The intensive programme of training sessions gave the French team the opportunity to put in a series of group workouts.
We had a great course, certainly the best we’ve had this year,” Simon Fourcade, coach of the A team, told Nordic Magazine. The conditions were very mild in terms of weather, which was great because that’s what we were looking for before embarking on a course in Norway in a fortnight’ time. It gave us a chance to fill up on vitamin D before the sun stopped shining from 3pm onwards.
The course in Romeufont followed on from a week’s personal altitude training. Quentin Fillon-Maillet, Oscar Lombardot and Eric Perrot took the opportunity to train on the slopes of the Teide volcano in Tenerife, Spain.
I think it was the right strategy so that the guys didn’t burn out mentally in the middle of the course,” says Simon Fourcade. In fact, this course was a continuation in the sense that we once again came to seek altitude on a site at 1,750 metres. But it was also a step up, even if we didn’t invent the moon at this training camp. We’ve simply continued to build on what we have.
The harvest of fruit ripened throughout the summer is now fast approaching. The first World Cup race is scheduled for 29 November in Östersund (Sweden).
- “The aim is to build up as much confidence as possible for the start of the season”: Simon Fourcade sets out the objectives of the French men’s team’s Font-Romeu training camp
- Font-Romeu training camp: photo album of the French men’s team training on the roads and trails of the Pyrenees
- Images from the French men’s team altitude training camp in Font-Romeu
