At the weekend, winter sports fans are looking forward to Annecy, where the Martin Fourcade Nordic Festival is the next highlight of the summer. Three biathletes face a very special challenge.
As the French biathlon team announced on Wednesday, it will send three of its stars to the start in a cross-country race at the weekend. The participants are Sophie Chauveau, Gilonne Guigonnat and Lou Jeanmonnot.
The originator of this quite unusual idea is the French national coach Cyril Burdet. “He said it would be a good idea to end our training camp in Font-Romeu with an intensive session,” Jeanmonnot told Nordic Magazine about her coach’s plan.
The French biathletes primarily want to use the race to hone their tactics and technique, added the Frenchwoman, who, according to her own statement, has not participated in a pure cross-country race for more than eight years. Therefore, she “can hardly wait” for her start at the weekend, said Jeanmonnot.
Numerous top biathlon stars at the start in Annecy
The Martin Fourcade Nordic Festival in Annecy is perhaps the biggest highlight of the winter sports summer this year. Numerous stars will be at the start in both the cross-country and biathlon competitions. The fields of participants in the biathlon events in particular are impressive and don’t have to hide from any World Cup races.
In the two mass start races on Saturday are among others Lisa Vittozzi, Dorothea Wierer, Julia Simon, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, Vanessa Voigt, Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold and Markéta Davidová as well as Sturla Holm Lægreid, Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen, Benedikt Doll and Quentin Fillon-Maillet, Fabien Claude and Emilien Jacquelin at the start.