2023-12-03 19:40:39
After the sprint on Friday, the pursuit on Sunday: two days after his very first individual victory in the Biathlon World Cup, Lou Jeanmonnot, flawless in shooting, scored a second consecutive success in Östersund (Sweden).
So much so that at the end of the first stage of the World Cup, the 25-year-old from Jura, who is only in her second full season in the big leagues, is second in the general ranking, three points behind the German Franziska Preuss (197 against 200). Precisely the one she beat in the sprint on Sunday afternoon.
“We can’t do much better,” she smiles to describe her fantastic start to the season with AFP.
Frenchwoman Lou Jeanmonnot during the individual pursuit of the Biathlon World Cup on December 3, 2023 in Östersund, Sweden / TT News Agency/AFP
“It makes you want more,” continues the woman who took her first steps on the main circuit less than three years ago, in March 2021, and was crowned in the IBU Cup, the lower level, at the start of 2022. That’s good to say that I am capable of winning. From there, the winter promises to be interesting.”
“Lou has enormous potential. I’m not surprised, that doesn’t mean it’s very strong to realize it,” applauds Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, who finished 15th (3 faults) in the pursuit.
“She’s someone we saw coming, thanks to her shot which was always very stable, and she progressed physically, so obviously it had to end up +snapping+ at one point or another. the just reward for all its potential”, greets Julia Simon, holder of the large crystal globe.
– 30 out of 30 –
Starting nine seconds ahead of her closest pursuer (Knotten), Jeanmonnot remained in the leading group throughout the 12.5 km pursuit. But it was only after the last pass on the shooting range, where she signed a new clear round, 20 out of 20 after her 10 out of 10 in the sprint on Friday, that her race turned into a duel with Preuss (game 4th at 18 sec, 1 fault).
First left behind in the last lap, she found the resources to catch up with the German biathlete, and beat her in the sprint, by three tenths. Another German, Vanessa Voigt (1 fault), completes the podium, at 18 sec 5/10.
“I’m quite strong in sprinting, I know that’s a strong point. Afterwards, we had to be able to be on Franziska’s (Preuss) skis at that moment…”, says Jeanmonnot.
“As much as I didn’t have very, very good legs, I put everything I had into it,” she sums up.
“At 30 out of 30, that’s what’s especially strong: she doesn’t leave the door open, she doesn’t give up,” admires Simon.
The Germans Franziska Preuss (l) and Vanessa Voigt, 2nd and 3rd in the World Cup pursuit in Östersund on December 3, 2023 in Sweden / TT News Agency/AFP
Before her Swedish double, the Pontarlier native’s best individual result was two second places obtained last winter, in the individual 15 km in Ruhpolding (Germany) in January, and in the mass start in March, already in Östersund.
– Top 10 for Simon and QFM –
On the verge of the top 10 in the general ranking from her first season (11th), she dares to aim for a top 6 this winter, reinforced by her promising summer preparation in the opinion of the French management. His start to the season is hopeful.
Simon like Quentin Fillon Maillet, the two leaders of French biathlon, each obtained their first top 10 of the winter at the end of the pursuit.
The outgoing world No.1 climbed from 16th to 7th place, with an 18/20 shooting score (+1:16.4).
The double 2022 Olympic champion repositioned himself from 16th to 9th to ninth place, with only one missed target (+49.5).
It’s better than Johannes Boe, far from being as hair-raising as last season for the Swedish stage at the start of the school year: the four-time winner of the big crystal globe only came up from 18th place in the sprint (3 faults) to the 15th in the pursuit (+1:23.6), penalized by his three faults in standing shooting.
“It’s weird to be here, it’s not where I want to be. I expected better, that’s for sure,” admits the 30-year-old Norwegian. “People are wondering, and so am I.”
Swede Sebastian Samuelsson has just won the Östersund Biathlon World Cup pursuit on February 3, 2023 in Sweden / TT News Agency/AFP
Starting in fourth position, 27 seconds behind, and despite a 17/20 shooting, the Swede Sebastian Samuelsson showed his speed on skis to win with a five-second lead over the German Philipp Nawrath (18/ 20), victorious in the sprint the day before.
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