Franziska Preuß travels to Lenzerheide as a World Cup leader to the Biathlon World Cup and is considered a top favorite on precious metal. But the competition sits on her neck. We took a closer look at the competition. These are the World Cup favorites among women.
Franziska Preuss is the clear number one in the German team – and also one of the top medal candidates at the upcoming World Cup. According to health problems in the past, Preuss shone with constantly outstanding performance this winter, thus slipping into the yellow jersey. As a fingering for the World Cup at an altitude of 1,400 meters in Switzerland, Preuss ran twice on the podium at the last World Cup World Cup at an altitude of 1,600 meters in Antholz. The days in Switzerland could be their world championship, medals are the goal – but the competition is strong.
JeanMonnot with victories to the World Cup
And this competition leads the strong Lou JeanMonnot to. The French woman got stronger over the course of the season and said goodbye to Antholz with two victories. The two-time relay world champion from 2024 is in the World Cup on the neck-the 26-year-old has 92 points behind Prussia. JeanMonnot’s shooting performance is outstanding – she remained flawlessly seven times this season, and this winter made it six times on the podium.
Statistically speaking, JeanMonnot has even a small advantage over World Cup leaders Prussian: On the route, ten times the World Cup winner this season is the four -fastest runner (Prussia is in seventh place), both are close together at the shooting range with a rate of around 92 percent in the individual races. Fortunately, Biathlon is not only about statistics but also about nerves, JeanMonnot showed in the mass start of Ruhpolding. As the leading, she came to the last shooting and then fell back with two mistakes – Preuss celebrated second place.
At the last World Cup in Nove Mesto, JeanMonnot collected four medals: with the season and single-mixed sapor, she won gold, in the mass start and sprint she won bronze.
Julia Simon: Form curve goes up
Also their teammates Julia Simon and Jeanne Richard is to trust a World Cup medal. Simon was the star of the World Cup in Nove Mesto. She drove home with five medals, is the defending champion in the sprint and in the persecution. This winter, Simon was only able to build on the strong pre-season: Especially at the shooting range, the 28-year-old had its problems, and has only an average rate of 79 percent hit performance.
With the World Cup general rehearsal in Antholz, however, she made it look second in the persecution. She also underlined her medal ambitions during a test competition last week in France, the Samse Biathlon National Tour when she prevailed against Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Jeanne Richard.
Jeanne Richard: The junior surprise?
Jeanne Richard Could be the surprise of the World Cup. The 22-year-old travels with the experience of only 31 World Cup races (for comparison: Simon is 220, Preuss even 265 already ran). In the prestigious mass start, the French woman celebrated the first podium of her career with third place. With consistently good performances, she also made it in six of the last eight individual races in the top six. Especially with your hit rate of 93 percent, it is impressive. The 22-year-old wears the blue jersey of the best young biathlete.
Elivira Öberg: Fit again after infection?
Elvira Öberg is also part of the closer circle of favorites – if it is healthy. The 25-year-old Swede had to cancel the last World Cup World Cup in Antholz due to illness. And even at the start of the World Cup, it is not yet 100 percent – which is why she has to start on Wednesday (12.2.2025) and the mixed relay.
Öberg is overall World Cup third-but this season is experiencing a mountain-and-valley trip. After a victory in the mass start of in Kontilohate, she started in the yellow jersey into the winter. But she quickly had to hand over that to Franziska Preuss. The shooting performance of the 25-year-old was too inconsistent. In the new year, three -time Olympic medalists from 2022 then set some exclamation marks: In the persecution of Oberhof, she ran in third place. The younger of the two Öberg sisters even won the mass start of Ruhpolding.
Oberg was able to improve again this season, is currently the second fastest in the overall classification. It is certainly decided on the shooting range whether she can run for her first one World Cup medal. With a hit rate of 83 percent, she needs a very good day.
Hope the Old master
Two old masters also hope for a very good day: Justine Braisaz-Bouchetwho, like Simon in Nove Mesto, won five medals and became a world champion in the mass start, won Annecy’s sprint this season. But the 28-year-old leaves too much at the shooting range: With only 75 percent hit rate, she was too far away from the top places too often. The Italian Dorothea Wierer If this winter is often after the lying shooting (93 percent) near the podium, but it falls back in standing shooting (78 percent). Nevertheless: The 34-year-old is also good for a medal, even if she has not made it into the top 3 this season. The last world championships will be for the Olympic third in Sprint 2022. After the Olympics in her own country next year, the four -time world champion wants to stop.
Two Swiss hopes
The Swiss medal hopes are on two shoulders: Lena Häcki-Gross and Amy Baserga. The star of the 29-year-old Häcki-Gross opened last season when she celebrated two season wins and a total of five podium places. This winter, a ninth place at the sprint in Kontiolahti was the best placement.
Baserga, on the other hand, made it to the podium as the third in Ruhpolding. The 24-year-old even speaks specifically of the World Cup platform: “A medal would mean a lot to me. That would be very emotional for the whole of Switzerland and the team“, she said before the World Cup on Swiss television”SRF“.
Germany’s Selina Grotian cheers.
Grotian a competition for Prussia?
And then there is also competition from his own warehouse for Prussia with Selina Grotian. The Mittenwaldin made it to the top of the world this winter. The 20-year-old celebrated her first World Cup victory in Annecy. The 20-year-old also convinced in the season with good performances, especially four-time junior world champion is one of the top athletes in the classification.