First Wins and Podiums

The 2024-2025 season was one we will long remember for many reasons including the thrilling battle between Franziska Preuss and Lou Jeanmonnot as well as the last dance for JT and Tarjei Boe. While that was going on, though, there were many athletes who were claiming the first wins and the first podiums of their careers. I just wanted to note them quickly.

First Time Winners

Martin Uldal – Annecy-le Grand Bornand Sprint

Martin Uldal claimed his first podium and his first win in the same race, the 5th in his World Cup career. What a way to do it too! Uldal did it with perfect shooting. He didn’t have a ridiculously fast shoot like he has in some races, but it was still quite quick. On the final lap he started out with a small margin on JT Boe who was 9/10. After briefly slipping behind JT Boe’s time at the 8.8km split Uldal buckled down over the last 1.2km and pulled out just enough for a 1.4 second victory.

Selina Grotian – Annecy-le Grand Bornand Mass Start

Another first time podium and first time winner in the same weekend was Selina Grotian. She went head to head with Franziska Preuss, who of course went on to claim the season’s Overall crown. Grotian came onto the range alongside Milena Todorova +17 on Jeanne Richard, who led at that point but went on to finish 4th, +11 on Franziska Preuss, and +3 on Lou Jeanmonnot. Grotian went clean in just 23.5 seconds and took advantage of misses from those ahead of her excepting Preuss. She started the last lap just 4.2 seconds back of Preuss. She quickly moved past her teammate and never looked back as she pulled away for her first career win.

Paula Botet – Oberhof Sprint

The women’s Oberhof Sprint was the day for first timers as Paula Botet won, Maren Kirkeeide came in 2nd and Milena Todorova in 3rd. Botet had come back to the World Cup after a very good 1st trimester on the IBU Cup. The once promising youngster had reclaimed her career after a rough two seasons significantly impacted due to a shin tendonitis. After seven top 4 finishes in eight races on the IBU Cup she came right up to the World Cup in Oberhof and won her first World Cup race back on the circuit. She did it with excellent speed, finishing with the 7th best course time on the day, and perfect shooting. She collected one more top 5 as she finished 5th in the Mass Start to conclude the season. Hopefully we’ll see more of her on the World Cup next season!

Vebjoern Soerum – Ruhpolding Individual

It’s a race that is more remembered for everything that happened with JT Boe during the race and of course after with his retirement. The race was also the first victory of Vebjoern Soerum’s career. It was a bit of an odd race actually. Soerum was a perfect 20/20 and with the 11th best course time that day he won by 52 seconds over Emilien Claude who also had his first podium in that race. All of the men who were faster than Soerum had at least one miss, and most of them two misses. Regardless Soerum took advantage and came through for the first victory of his career!

Tommaso Giacomel – Ruhpolding Mass Start

This was one we had all been waiting on for a little while. We’ve been watching Tommaso Giacomel getting better and better every year. He scored his first podium at the end of the 2022-2023 season finishing 2nd in the Oestersund Individual. He scored two more podiums in the 23-24 season. At that point all of his podiums were 2nd place finishes and it felt like just a matter of time until the win came. It came the same weekend as Soerum got his first win as Giacomel won the Mass Start. He was brilliant from the start of the race, but things got intense from the halfway point on. He was racing head to head with JT Boe with Sturla Holm Laegreid not far behind. He showed no fear of those two men and never waivered on the range. One of just two men to hit 20/20 he walked away with a big time victory.

First Podiums

Ella Halvarsson – 2nd Kontiolahti Short Individual

Boy was this a surprise. Ella Halvarsson had a great day as she and Sebastian Samuelsson combined to win the Single Mixed relay to open the season. She proved it was no fluke as she raced off from bib 4, well before the higher ranked women with the new starting system, to put up a time that held up for 2nd by the end of the day. She had the 4th best course time of the race and just a single mix. At the end of the day, in just her 3rd career solo World Cup race she had her first career podium.

Suvi Minkkinen – 3rd Kontiolahti Sprint

I’ve long been a fan of Suvi Minkkinen. An exceptional shooter that was held back by her less than exceptional speed. During the offseason she trained in the Alps all summer to try to improve her skiing and boy did it pay off with a massive career year. She finished with her 2nd career top 10 in the first race of the season and then her first podium of her career finishing 3rd in the Kontiolahti Sprint. We all know her story now but she added two more podiums including the bronze medal in the Sprint at the Lenzerheide World Championships.

Martin Uldal – 1st Annecy-le Grand Bornand Sprint

Worth noting again that this was one of three athletes who had both their first career podium and first career victory at the same time this season!

Anamarija Lampic – 3rd Annecy-le Grand Bornand Sprint

In her very first race on the World Cup Anamarija Lampic finished 5th. With her speed it was almost an inevitability that she would find the podium eventually. Well it took just a little over two more seasons but Lampic did finally find the podium in this season’s Annecy-le Grand Bornand Sprint. She wrangled her rifle into submission with just two standing misses and with once again the fastest skiing of the day she fought her way tot he podium. She actually earned a 2nd podium this season in the Pokjluka Mass Start as she this time had just a single miss. She took her time a little bit more during the race as she was just 5th in the fastest woman that day. It paid off though!

Danilo Riethmueller – 2nd Annecy-le Grand Bornand Mass Start

One of the rare podiums for the German men this season, Danilo Riethmueller showed his high potential in the Annecy-le Grand Bornand Mass Start. He came to the last shooting in 5th position but going clean in his standing shooting her surpassed everybody but Tarjei Boe. While Tarjei Boe held on for the victory, Danilo Riethmueller held a hard charging JT Boe for 2nd and his first career podium.

Selina Grotian – 1st Annecy-le Grand Bornand Mass Start

As noted above Selina Grotian secured her first victory and first podium in the same race.

Paula Botet – 1st Oberhof Sprint

Once again, Paula Botet was the third of the trio to secure their first podium and top 10 in the same race!

Maren Kirkeeide – 2nd Oberhof Sprint

Maren Kirkeeide’s back to back 2nd place finishes in Oberhof, along with her bronze medal in the World Championship Mass Start served as the highlights of the Norwegian women’s biathlon season. Just 22 years old Kirkeeide took a solid step forward with her skiing this season. She proved in Oberhof that when paired with good shooting she is definitely competitive for podiums.

Milena Todorova – 3rd Oberhof Sprint

The third of a trio of first time podium winners, this was the most unexpected. Botet had previously been a celebrated Junior and Kirkeeide was seen as a future leader in the Norwegian team (now a present leader). Todorova, meanwhile, was coming back off a year off from maternity leave. She came into the race already with a 10th in the Hochfilzen Sprint and 16th in the Annecy-le Grand Bornand Sprint which were two of her best finishes ever. In Oberhof she was magnificent, hitting 9/10 and with the 10th best course time, the 2nd best in her career at that date. This was a VERY popular podium!

Emilien Claude – 2nd Ruhpolding Individual

Starting in the 2nd trimester Emilien Claude had quite a nice little season. After having a repair made on his rifle he came back and finished in the top 30 every race for the remainder of the season including four top 10’s and eight of the nine best finishes in his career. The peak of his season came in the Ruhpolding Individual where he went 20/20. It was just the 2nd time he hit 100% in a 20 shot race. The only man better than him that day was Vebjoern Soerum who we noted earlier. This was an excellent day for the youngest Claude brother!

Amy Baserga – 3rd Ruhpolding Individual

In our article on breakthrough and career best seasons we discussed that Amy Baserga made her improvement in the 2024-2025 season primarily based on her shooting. The best example of this was her performance in the Ruhpolding Individual where she went a perfect 20/20. It was the first and only time she’s hit 100% in a 4 shoot race. The best part for Baserga was that she put that together with the best skiing day of her season (tied for the Mass Start in Oslo). Put it altogether and it was her first podium of her career. It wouldn’t surprise anybody if she finished on the podium a few more times next season too!

Jeanne Richard – 3rd Ruhpolding Mass Start

Jeanne Richard was the queen of the 4th place finish this season with five of them total this season. Thankfully she has this podium as it would have been so frustrating to be that close that many times and not get the pay off! It’s no surprise to see Jeanne Richard on the podium. Even at just 22 years old she’s already a world class biathlete. She’s an exceptional skier and shooter and finished 6th in the Overall. If she keeps it up like this she’s going to collect a heap of podiums!

Campbell Wright – 2nd Lenzerheide World Championships Sprint

Campbell Wright started out the season finishing in 4th place in the Kontiolahti Sprint. Coming on the heels of his mad dash at the end of the 2023-2024 season it seemed only natural that he would find himself on the podium eventually. It took a little bit but Wright kept putting himself in position with strong races including 10th in the Hochfilzen Sprint and 9th in the Oberhof Sprint. He finally burst through the door in Lenzerheide as he was one of just a couple of the top contenders who went 10/10 with the 9th best course time. At the time that was his best course time rank of the season. He followed up his silver medal by confirming himself with a tremendous Pursuit including what was one of his many memorable moments with his smile after hitting his last shot of the race.

Oceane Michelon – 2nd Lenzerheide World Championships Mass Start

Oceane Michelon went on a wild run in the 2nd trimester. Starting with the last race in Annecy-le Grand Bornand through the start of the World Championships she went: 8, 6, 4, 4, 8, 7, 5. She definitely established herself not just as a leading contender for the u23 globe but as one of the top women in the World Cup. The only thing that seemed to be missing was a podium finish. That came shortly after. It was a tough race as there were several misses by the top contenders for the trophy and the snow was thick and wet. Michelon persevered though with the 4th best course time of the race, just 10 seconds back of Lampic who had the 2nd best time. She limited the damage to just one miss in each of the first three trips to the range and after coming to the range in the chase pack about 25 seconds back of Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and the leaders she went clean in 21.6 seconds, the 3rd best shooting of the final trip to the range. She left at the head of a very large group chasing Elvira and managed to separate herself late in the final lap to secure the silver medal. She was 3rd in the Pursuit in Nove Mesto and just missed another podium in the Oslo Mass start as she finished 4th.