The French biathlon team travels to the German winter sports Mecca Oberhof. A few months before the World Championships in Germany, the ski hunters from the neighboring country are also changing their training strategy.
The best biathletes in France make their way to Oberhof on Wednesday. The goal: The snow tunnel in which the final touches are to be made in preparation for the World Cup under the best winter conditions.
France travel to Thuringia with the full A and B squad – with the exception of Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, who recently announced her pregnancy, and Sébastien Mahon, who tore her cruciate ligament.
The background to the trip to Germany is twofold, as women’s trainer Cyril Burdet explained to Nordic Magazine: “Firstly, it’s about driving in the tunnel on snow from September, and secondly, it’s about being on the grounds of the World Championships next year to be able to shoot in winter.”
Biathlon stars look forward to the snow tunnel
The fact that snow training is on the program this year was implemented at the request of the biathletes. “After the feedback from the athletes over the last few summers, they needed more variety in their program,” Burdet explained the reason for the change in training strategy.
The French biathletes are enthusiastic about the trip to the Oberhof snow tunnel. Chloé Chevalier, who clinched her first World Cup win in the relay last January in Ruhpolding, said “Nordic magazines“: “The return to snow is a big change and breaks the ski-bike dynamic of the summer.”
Eric Perrot, relay junior world champion of 2021, also welcomes the detour in advance: “We are skiers, so we want to be on the snow. I’m a pure skier, it’s more the snow than the effort itself that brings me to biathlon attracted.” Even if the training only takes place in a tunnel “in which you turn your circles”, he prefers this to training on roller skis.