Para biathlon: first race and first podium for visually impaired Anthony Chalençon
This Thursday morning, the Para Biathlon World Cup in Vuokatti (Finland) kicked off with 7.5km sprints. In the visually impaired category, France’s Anthony Chalençon (guided by Florian Michelon, cousin of a certain Océane) was particularly impressive , taking a magnificent third place.
The Morzinois, coached in this sector by Anaïs Bescond, scored 10 out of 10 on the mat to take joint third place in the final rankings. Just 19 sec 1 behind Ukrainian winner Oleksandr Kazik (coached by Serhii Kucheriavyi) and level with Germany’s Nico Messinger (coached by Robin Wunderle), he got his season off to the best possible start. China’s Yu Shuang (guided by Wang Guanyu) is second at 9.5 seconds.

The women’s race was dominated by China’s Wang Yue (guided by Liu Hang), who clocked 9/10. She beat Germany’s Leonie Maria Walter (guided by Christian Krasman) by 24 seconds 8 seconds and Johanna Recktenwald (guided by Florian Baumann) by 1 minute 28 seconds 3 seconds.
Benjamin Daviet, a return far from the front-runners
Bornandin Benjamin Daviet had a difficult start on snow in the standing category. With a score of 7/10, the Haut-Savoyard, who was a finalist at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games in para-rowing, came sixteenth , more than 3 minutes behind Canada’s Mark Arendz (10/10).

The latter won by a margin of 12 sec 3 over Ukraine’s Serhii Romaniuk (10/10) and 19 sec 1 over China’s Liu Xiaobin (9/10). Kazakhstan’s Alexandr Gerlits (9/10) and China’s Cai Jiayun (9/10) followed in the top 5 under a minute. Also of note was fourteenth place for Karl Tabouret (10/10), the other Frenchman in the category.
In the women’s race, China’s Guo Yujie (10/10) took victory 27.9 seconds ahead of Ukraine’s Liudmyla Liashenko (10/10) and 30.8 seconds ahead of Canada’s Natalie Wilkie (8/10). Eleventh and last place for Chloé Pinto from Beaufort (6/10).
Kendall Gretsch and Liu Zixu win the seated category
Earlier in the morning, in the seated category, it was American Kendall Gretsch (10/10) who won the women’s race, one minute ahead of Germany’s Anja Wicker (9/10). Nearly 2 minutes behind, South Korea’s Kim Yunji (9/10) took third place.

In the men’s event, which brought together 24 para-athletes, China triumphed with Liu Zixu (10/10) 20 seconds 2 seconds ahead of his compatriot Liu Mengtao (8/10). Kazakhstan’s Yerbol Khamitov (8/10) was third at 47.5 seconds, just ahead of Ukraine’s Oleksandr Aleksyk (9/10).
Of particular note was the twenty-fourth and final place of Matthew Brumby (6/10), the first Australian to start a Para Biathlon World Cup.
Full results
Visually impaired
Men
Women
Standing
Men
Women
Sitting
Men
Women
- The programme for the Vuokatti World Cup, the first stage of the 2024/2025 season
- “I’m going back totally motivated”: after his break from para-rowing, punctuated by participation in Paris 2024, Bornandin Benjamin Daviet is about to start his winter of para-Nordic skiing.
- “She has to gain time over her rivals”: at the Vuokatti World Cup, Chloé Pinto will be trying to qualify for the Worlds.
- “I’ll go all the way to the 2026 Games and then I’ll stop”: Paralympic and world champion Anthony Chalençon sets his retirement date
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