France is taking the red pencil: As the national biathlon association announced shortly before the turn of the year, Sophie Chauveau will be removed from Oberhof’s World Cup squad. Despite a second place in the sprint in Hochfilzen, the 25-year-old’s performance was not good enough for those responsible.
Sophie Chauveau has to pay a high price for her poor performance at the French biathletes’ home World Cup in Annecy. As the national association announced, the 25-year-old will be removed from the A team squad with immediate effect and will be transferred to the IBU Cup squad.
Chauveau only took 42nd, 31st and 21st place in the sprint, pursuit and mass start in Annecy and was unable to confirm her strong performances in Hochfilzen (second place in the sprint, eleventh place in the pursuit). As a result, she fell back to 25th place in the overall World Cup standings.
“Of course she had a great race and a podium finish in Hochfilzen, but she wasn’t at her level in the other races,” said sports director Stéphane Bouthiaux, explaining the decision in an interview with Nordic Magazine. Ultimately, he and his team had no choice but to make this “difficult and painful decision,” the official added.
IBU Cup high-flyer advances to the Biathlon World Cup
Chauveau’s place in the Oberhof squad will be taken by Paula Botet. The 24-year-old is rewarded for her outstanding performances so far in the IBU Cup, in which she achieved two wins and five more podium finishes in nine races.
“Given their level at the start of the season, they deserve to be promoted to the World Cup,” said Bouthiaux, whose highly rated team has not disappointed so far this season but has not exceeded expectations either.
However, with Lou Jeanmonnot, Julia Simon, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Jeanne Richard, the French are the only nation that has four runners in the top 10 of the overall World Cup.