Para biathlon: Benjamin Daviet wins another world medal
On Sunday in Pokljuka (Slovenia), 35-year-old Benjamin Daviet won his twenty-fourth world medal. For the Bornandin native, who won silver in the individual para biathlon, it was probably the most unexpected of podium finishes.
“After the first two races, where my skiing times weren’t crazy, I thought that this might be the first World Championships where I’d go home without a medal, he tells Nordic Magazine. It’s funny, too, because I told Duch’ [Vincent Duchêne, his coach, editor’s note] before the start that I was going to take 3 or 4 minutes on the skis and that all I had to do was shoot 20/20 and see what happened.”
The living legend of French para Nordic skiing, who was a finalist at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games in para rowing at the beginning of September, wasn’t expecting much from this last Slovenian race. Except that the adage that great champions never die has once again proved true.
From the middle of the week, he goes on to the World Para-cross-Country Skiing Championships.
“I took the start and I could feel that we had a crazy glide. I didn’t get excited, and I let the skis slide at the start to save myself. In the end, I managed to accelerate from lap to lap, it held and I applied myself to the shot to make the 20/20, he explains. As time went by, people were telling me that I was in with a chance of a medal and that I was even in second place, not far from the lead.”
Although he doesn’t have the same level of fitness as in other years after a succession of winter and summer seasons over the last few months, Benjamin Daviet found himself on the receiving end of a frustrating fourth place in the sprint pursuit. Second at the finish, less than 30 seconds behind Mark Arendz, the Haut-Savoyard finished his day’s work on the podium.
“It’s a medal that feels good after a complicated season, admits the father of little Poema. I did everything I could to try and win it and, in my experience, it worked. As Duch’ told me at the finish, it’s a champion’s reaction. All the effort pays off and you never give up.”
This week, from Wednesday to Friday, Benjamin Daviet takes on the Para-Cross-Country World Championships in Toblach (Italy). The open relay, which he is due to compete in with Karl Tabouret and Anthony Chalençon (guided by Florian Michelon), is already in his sights. For a twenty-fifth world medal.
- The full programme for the Pokljuka 2025 World Championships
- The French selection for the world championships in Pokljuka, Toblach and Trondheim
- “I don’t need much more to play up front”: Benjamin Daviet prepared for the Pokljuka World Championships at the Val di Fiemme World Cup.
- Pokljuka: Karl Tabouret fourth in the World Championships sprint, less than a second from bronze, Benjamin Daviet eighth
- Pokljuka World Championships: Anthony Chalençon and his guide Florian Michelon take silver in the sprint
- “Now the goal is to win a title”: silver in the sprint, the ideal launch pad for Anthony Chalençon and Florian Michelon at the Pokljuka World Championships
- Pokljuka: Benjamin Daviet, Karl Tabouret and Anthony Chalençon (guided by Florian Michelon) in the sprint pursuit final
- Pokljuka World Championships: Benjamin Daviet just off the podium in the sprint pursuit, Anthony Chalençon and his guide Florian Michelon sixth
- Pokljuka: Benjamin Daviet runner-up in the individual event
- Pokljuka World Championships: fourth, Anthony Chalençon and Florian Michelon relinquish their individual world title
