France 2025-2026 Team Preview

17 Overall Crystal Globes. 32 Olympic Medals. 130 World Championship medals. While they aren’t one of the traditional founding members of biathlon like Germany or Russia or Norway, France has emerged over the last 20-30 years as one of the great powers. Quinton Fillon Maillet and Julia Simon. Raphael Poiree and Anne Briand. Eric Perrot and Lou Jeanmonnot. Martin Freaking Fourcade! These are some of the names in biathlon. I mean Martin Fourcade is argued about as possibly the greatest of all time.

The French fans are also some of the absolute best in the world as well. Just take a look at Annecy every year. It’s become one of my favorite regular stops on the World Cup. We did an informal poll asking people on Twitter/X to name their favorite World Cup venues and Annecy-le Grand Bornand was the #1 response. Not only is it picturesque, but the entire course is packed with fans and it’s wildly loud. The online French fan presence is second to none (Hello @biathlonstats and Balles de Pioche podcast!) and is rapidly expanding. Honestly nothing about biathlon would be the same without the French.

It also helps that the current squad is really really really good. The men have multiple competitors who could win any race they enter. However, the women might be even better including multiple potential crystal globe winners and a bench that is as deep as any federation. I mean seriously if you look from World Cup through the IBU Cup the list of women who could compete at the highest level is wildly long.

So let’s go ahead and take a look at what this year’s edition of the French team might bring for us… Just a quick note, as should be obvious, but with a team like the French there are WAAAAAAY too many athletes for me to cover in one post. So this is just about as many as I felt I could get to.

Women The two time defending Nations Cup champions, the French women boast a deeeeeep list of athletes that could compete on the World Cup. More than that, they have three women who nobody would be surprised to see lifting the Overall Globe come March. They have a huge number of women who could take a solo Olympic medal. The French women’s relay team is the overwhelming favorite for both Olympic gold and the relay discipline globe. In fact, there is a real world where the French women could sweep all of the globes this season and the Olympic gold medals and it’s not even hyperbole!

Quota: 6 Athletes to Start (7 Women for First 2 Weeks) – Thanks to Oceane Michelon’s IBU Cup crown the French women get to have seven women for the first two weeks. Then they’ll have to cut down to six prior to the home World Cup event in Annecy-le Grand Bornand. Throwing in the Julia Simon 1 week suspension for the racing in Oestersund and there will be a lot of turnover for the French women in the first few weeks. Here’s who will line up to start the season on the World Cup in Oestersund:
– Lou Jeanmonnot
– Justine Braisaz-Bouchet
– Oceane Michelon
– Jeanne Richard
– Camille Bened
– Amandine Mengin
– Gilonne Guigonnat
– Julia Simon (will return to World Cup after 1 week suspension)

World Cup Overall Contenders – These women are as good as it gets in women’s biathlon. Some of the top talents we have. This is not to say that these women will necessarily target the Overall. It is just that they could take the Overall if they have a very good season and they put their efforts towards it.

Lou Jeanmonnot (27)

Sure Franziska Preuss is the reigning Women’s Overall Champion. And 2024 Overall Champ Lisa Vittozzi has looked pretty darn good in the races this summer going pretty much undefeated and unchallenged even as she returns from a back injury that held her out last season. But ask pretty much anybody who their favorite is to be the top Overall Woman this year and most of them are going to say Lou Jeanmonnot. And why wouldn’t you? Everything about her is spectacular. Her skiing. Her shooting. Her results. Her sportsmanship. Her attitude. She’s the whole package when it comes to what you want in a top biathlete.

What Lou Jeanmonnot has done over her first three full World Cup seasons is nothing short of spectacular. Her Overall finishes of 11th, 2nd, and 2nd. And as we all know those 2nd place finishes weren’t just she was the runner up, but they were close. She came within 23 points in 2024 and about 600 meters in 2025 from being winning two Overall Globes. She amassed 12 wins over the last two seasons far outpacing Julia Simon’s seven wins in that timespan. Jeanmonnot has been on the podium a ridiculous 23 times. She’s brought home three discipline globes and seven World Championship medals. By nearly ever measure she’s the best woman over the last two season stretch. The only things “missing” are a solo gold medal at World Championships/Olympics and an Overall Globe. It sure feels like both of those things are within her grasp this season.

We could spend plenty of time breaking down what makes Lou Jeanmonnot so special but how about I give you just two numbers. Her overall ski rank last season was 4th. Her overall shooting accuracy rank was 6th. If somebody ranks top six in both of those categories you can just pencil them into the Overall globe race because that’s a lethal combination in this sport.

There is one big way in which Lou Jeanmonnot could stand to improve though. She had an average shooting time of 29.4 seconds. Last season that was just 42nd on the World Cup. For Jeanmonnot that really only matters when comparing her to some of the other top women in the sport like Franziska Preuss and Julia Simon, each recent winners of the Overall Globe. But that’s the pool that Lou Jeanmonnot swims in these days. Obviously she doesn’t want to hurt her shooting accuracy, but picking up even one second per shoot on average might make the difference. Think for example last season when she lost the Sprint in Oslo by 0.2 seconds to Preuss. Her shooting time was 5.9 seconds slower than Preuss. Shooting time may have made the difference that day and with it the Globe.

	Prone %	Standing %	Total %	Shooting Time
2022-2023	94	86.5	90.3	31.2
2023-2024	93.9	91.8	92.8	30.2
2024-2025	94.8	88.6	91.7	29.4

Let’s be clear that is one very very very small thing to point out. The overall profile of Lou Jeanmonnot is superlative. She’s without a doubt one of the top women in biathlon right now and for my money the one to beat this season. She’s a threat to win every time she steps to the starting line. It would shock absolutely nobody if she wins the Overall this season. Or if she wins a medal of three at the Olympics. Or if she wins a couple more discipline globes. She’s just that good. At times she makes it look so dang easy.

And while that’s all great, the best part about watching Lou Jeanmonnot, and honestly cheering for her, is knowing that she’s just a good person too. I mean this as no disrespect to anybody (and I mention that knowing full well who is next on this list and how it might be read) but Lou Jeanmonnot’s sportsmanship is incredible. Watching her embrace Franziska Preuss in what had to be the most heartbreaking moments of her career was heartwarming. How could you not love her? I’ve shared this before but I told her afterward that I’m so happy that my daughter gets to grow up watching and cheering for Lou Jeanmonnot. So yeah, I’ll be cheering for Lou Jeanmonnot (along with countless other women) this season. But I’ll be sitting right next to my little girl who is falling in love with this amazing sport rooting for Lou, so if some days I seem extra excited that she won, it’s nothing against the other women, I just really like it when my little girl is happy.

Julia Simon (29)

This October, after two years of public denials, Julia Simon admitted in court that she did in fact steal credit card information from Justine Braisaz-Bouchet. She will pay a fine, has a suspended prison sentence, and most importantly it was added to her criminal record. I mention this because with it added onto her criminal record she loses her job with the customs and border control of France and potentially will lose her gun license (although that’s still to be determined). An independent disciplinary committee within the FFS has met and determined that Simon will be suspended 1 month. That suspension began on November 6th so she will be eligible to return after the week of racing in Östersund. The Biathlon Integrity Unit has stated that they reserve the right to weigh in as well. Missing a week will likely take her out of the Overall mix, but her talent lands her in this category regardless.

All of that being said, it is undeniable what that Julia Simon is one of the most magnetic forces in the sport. Simply put, she puts on a show. She’s authored some of the great Pursuit comebacks of all time over the last few seasons because of her “Never say die” attitude. Has there been a more ferocious closer for relays? Her fast shooting has wowed crowds all over Europe and beyond. And it’s brought her glory with 15 wins, heaps of podiums, 13 World Championship medals, two discipline globes and the 2023 Women’s Overall title.

While she’s never quite gotten back to the level she was at in her special 2022-2023 season when she was an absolute killer, Julia Simon remains one of the top talents in women’s biathlon. Her “down” years have been a 5th and 3rd, both of which are easily better than her prior Overall finishes.

Julia Simon was always a good skier regularly skiing in the top 15 of Ovearll skiing. That got even better in 2022-2023 when she turned in the third best overall skiing of the season. That was making a strength even stronger, but the thing that made that incredible surge to the Overall Crystal Globe possible was her incredible shooting improvement. She went from hitting in the mid 70’s to low 80’s all the way up to a total hit rate of 88.3%. That was a nearly 13% improvement over where she had been two seasons before that. She improved everywhere in shooting. She went from hitting in the 70’s or low 80’s prone up to 93%. Her standing improved to 83.5%. She took a weakness and turned it into a strength. As a result she went from being a “boom or bust” to a steady and immoveable powerhouse.

	Prone %	Standing %	Total %	Shooting Time
2018-2019	80	80	80	24
2019-2020	80	77.1	78.5	25.7
2020-2021	71.5	79.5	75.5	25.9
2021-2022	85.5	77.5	81.5	26.1
2022-2023	93	83.5	88.3	25.3
2023-2024	91.4	82.4	86.9	23.5
2024-2025	87.6	80.9	84.3	23.6

The last two seasons, while she’s been excellent, her shooting did slip just a small bit dropping back to 86.9% in 23-24 and 84.3% last season. Her skiing also dipped as she went from 4.2% fastr than median in the 22-23 season and 4% faster in 23-24 back to 2.6% faster than median last year. This is more in line with where she was in the three seasons leading up to her overall title.

It’s completely understandable that she wasn’t able to keep up the obscene form that she had but she’s still a phenomenal biathlete. Julia Simon is one of the most talented biathletes that we have. Her racing style makes her imminently entertaining. If she races she’s a threat for podiums and wins. If she lines up at the Olympics she’s a threat for more medals. From a purely biathlon standpoint this season is an opportunity for her to etch her name more permanently in the annals of biathlon history.

Justine Braisaz-Bouchet (29)

There are few women, make that any athletes, in biathlon that I identify with as much as Justine Braisaz-Bouchet. Let’s get one thing out the way first, Braisaz-Bouchet is an infinitely better athlete that I could ever dream of being. In fact she’s better at biathlon than I will likely be at anything in my life. It’s not that part of her that I identify with. It’s watching her balance work and family.

There are so many amazing parents, both moms and dads, in the biathlon family. But JBB is the only one I’ve literally been in the same room as watching her be a parents. There was this one particularly moment in Holemnkollen the day of the Sprint races where she and I were in the cafe at the hotel together. Watching her holding her daughter, looking exhausted, while trying to find something (anything!) that her daughter would eat was something I have experienced endlessly in my life. She’s spoken openly about how that’s really the priority in her life and she’s made a point of skipping some training camps to train at home. I understand that feeling so well. There are so many days at work I just wish I could skip out the rest of the day and take my kids to the playground.

Beyond that, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet is at times simply mesmerizing. She simply flies across the snow faster than nearly anybody in biathlon. She has streaks where she is hitting her shots where she makes biathlon look just so dang easy. Those streaks don’t always last, but when she’s on her “A” game it is absolutely beautiful to watch. And when she stands on the podium there are very few smiles that look quite so blissful and at ease.

As noted above Justine Braisaz-Bouchet is a rocket on skis. SHe’s top three in overall ski rank the last three seasons she’s competed. The only thing limiting her performance, and keeping her from having the first top 3 Overall rankings finish in her career is her shooting. The 2023-2024 season was the best of her career on the range as she hit 82.9%. Last year her shooting regressed to her mean as she hit just 76.9%. It really tells you how amazing her skiing is that she can shoot in the mid 70’s and still finish 8th in the Women’s Overall race.

	Prone %	Standing %	Total %	Shooting Time
2017-2018	79.4	80.7	80	37
2018-2019	77.6	77	77.3	33.5
2019-2020	75.3	74.7	75	33
2020-2021	80	73.3	76.7	31.9
2021-2022	73.5	79	76.3	32.1
2023-2024	82.9	82.9	82.9	30.2
2024-2025	74.8	79.1	76.9	30.6

We know who Justine Braisaz-Bouchet is at this stage of her career. She is ultra fast and when she gets on a hot streak with the rifle she’s nigh on unbeatable. My greatest hope for her this season is that she’s able to get one one of those streaks in early and mid February in Italy. It would be fantastic to see her standing on the podium of the Olympics once again. Otherwise I’m sure we’ll see her consistently in the top 10 and higher.

Oceane Michelon (23)

It has taken Oceane Michelon basically no time at all to get her footing on the World Cup and going straight to the top. Following a Juniors career with one win and three podiums and six top 10’s in 16 races she went to the IBU Cup full time in the 22-23 and 23-24 seasons. She pretty quickly rose to the top of the IBU Cup rankings. Literally the top as she finished 1st Overall on the IBU Cup in 23-24 with a win, seven podiums and 13 top 10’s. She also raced four times on the World Cup that year with a season’s best of 28th.

She started last season on the World Cup and never looked back. She finished 7th in the first race of the season. Followed that with a second top 10 in the next race. She really hit her stride in the second trimester finishing top eight every one of the six races in Oberhof, Ruhpolding, and Anotholz. She became a World Championship Silver medalist in the Mass Start in Lenzerheide. She closed the season with three more top 5’s in the third trimester. By the end of the season she was 5th in the Overall. And more importantly she won the u23 Globe for the season in a great race against Jeanne Richard and Selina Grotian!

Throughout her career Oceane Michelon has been an amazing skier. It doesn’t matter what level we are talking about. As a Junior she was consistently finishing top 5 in course time ranks. She moved to the IBU Cup in the 23-24 season and guess what? She was an amazing skier consistently putting up top 5 course time ranks. She moves to the World Cup and what do you know she was once again putting up excellent course time ranks. By the 2nd and 3rd trimesters her average course time rank was 7th. Truly terrific. It doesn’t matter what level she’s on she’s one of the top 5-7 fastest women on the level. And that was at only 22 years old.

The most important thing for Michelon last season was that for the first time in her career she really started hitting on the range. After shooting in the mid 70’s to low 80’s for her entire career, regardless of the level, she hit 85.5% last season. It was by far her best hit rate and it was a full season of racing so not a small sample size. And she did it while averaging just 28.4 seconds per shoot, also by far her best of her career.

How good can Oceane Michelon be? The sky is the limit. She is just 23 years old at the start of this season and she is already displaying absolutely world class speed. Her shooting made tremendous strides last season. If she can improve even a little bit more, or even if she doesn’t she can absolutely be on of the top women in the world. It’s actually not a reach to say that she has all the make up of a woman who can contend for the Overall Globe in the not too distant future. Only time will tell with how far her skiing and shooting develop but right now it’s a safe bet to believe that presuming good health and desire we’ll be seeing a lot of Oceane Michelon on podiums for the rest of the decade.

Jeanne Richard (23)

If not for Oceane Michelon, Jeanne Richard would be the one we were talking about as the reigning Women’s u23 Globe winner. In the end she finished just five points behind her teammate in a competition that wasn’t decided until the very last race of the season when Michelon finished in 4th and Richard finished in 15th.

Jeanne Richard was the author of an absolutely stellar Juniors career including four Youth and Junior World Championship medals not to mention two Junior European Championship medals. Like Michelon she started the 23-24 season on the IBU Cup. Richard absolutely lit it up. She raced seven times on the IBU Cup that season finished outside the top 8 just one time. She made the jump to the World Cup in Oberhof that season and stayed there the rest of the season and even as a 21 year old she had two top 10’s and six top 20’s.

She joined her young teammate Michelon on the World Cup roster to start the 24-25 campaign. She started out the season with an 11th, and two 12th place finishes in Kontiolahti. She reached 4th place twice in Annecy-le Grand Bornand. She had her first career podium in the Ruhpolding Mass start, part of three consecutive top six finishes. She missed a medal in the World Championship Mass Start by just 6.6 seconds as she finished 4th. She had three more top 10’s in the third trimester giving her 10 for the season along with six to 5’s as she finished 6th Overall.

Jeanne Richard is already a very good skier. After establishing herself as consistently a top 5 skier on the Juniors and then having an average course time rank of 5th in the IBU Cup racing of 23-24, she once again confirmed her ski form ranking 15th in overall skiing. At 22 years old that’s a great start to her skiing career. More importantly for her though, Richard is an amazing shooter. Last season she hit 90.7% which was the 9th best hit rate on the World Cup. At 22 years old already a top 10 overall shooter.

The amazing thing about these two young French women is that they have opposite strengths. Michelon the speedster. Richard the sharpshooter. And both of them are already very good in their “weak” aspects.

You could copy and paste what I wrote about Oceane Michelon here. As the season gets under way she is just 23 years old. She is one of the best shooters in the sport and she was already 15th fastest woman…at just 23 years old! Just like Michelon the sky is the limit. She has all the potential in the world to be a top 10 skier and shooter within the next few seasons. It doesn’t take a genius to know that is a great way to get in the mix for the Overall. Only time will tell with how far her skiing and shooting develop but right now it’s a safe bet to believe that presuming good health and desire we’ll be seeing a lot of Jeanne Richard on podiums for the rest of the decade. (See I did copy and paste it!)

World Cup Contenders or IBU Dominators – This is such a crazy team. There are a number of women that are going to be fighting to make the World Cup team. And if they don’t make the World Cup team they’ll basically be instant favorite to win the IBU Cup Overall. You’ll see some women below who are starting on the World Cup and some on the IBU Cup. For what it’s worth here is who will start the season on the IBU Cup:
– Sophie Chauveau
– Paula Botet
– Voldiya Galamace Paulin
-Fany Bertrand
– Celia Henaff
– Louise Roguet

Camille Bened (25)

The 2024-2025 season was the triumphant return of the Camille Bened that we all took notice of a few years ago. After finishing 5th in the IBU Cup Overall at just 21 years old the next two seasons were a bit full of growing pains with pain being the key word for the 2023-2024 season. She has a serious fall just before the season resulting in a broken tailbone and a dislocated shoulder. She actually returned to racing in the second trimester of the 23-24 season, probably earlier than she should have. Regardless she found her form throughout the season and closed that season strong with six top 10’s and two podiums in the last seven races. It was certainly something to build off of.

Camille Bened came back even strong to start the 2024-2025 campaign with 10 top 10’s in the first 11 races including a win and four podiums. She closed the season with another eight straight top 10’s and five podiums in the last six races of the IBU Cup season to cap off a well earned IBU Cup Overall title. Bened then came to Oslo for the final weekend of racing and finished 13th, 15th, and 16th. It was a great close to a terrific comeback season. And it turns out she still was dealing with the after effects of the fall that broke her tailbone as she had to have a surgery to complete the repair of her left shoulder.

Last season was our first look at a healthy(ish) and complete Camille Bened in a couple of seasons. She displayed her characteristic excellent shooting as she hit 87.1%. It was the third consecutive season hitting 86% or better on the IBU Cup. It included her third consecutive season of better that 90% prone shooting. The best thing for Bened was we saw a ski speed that we had never seen from her before. To be fair the last time we saw her healthy she was just 21 years old and she skied 3.1% faster than median. She surged to new form running 5.3% faster than median on the IBU Cup last season with an average course time rank of 9th. Easily her best skiing ever. And when she made her World Cup starts her course time ranks were a respectable 23rd, 30th, and 22nd.

Can Camille Bened make a claim to a World Cup spot this season? Well she’s got something going for her that only Richard and Jeanmonnot have, which is being such a good shooter. And likely she can get even a touch better as she hit 90.4% in the 23-24 season. Her ski trajectory is also on the rise as well. This is in stark comparison to Sophie Chauveau who has been plateaued the last few seasons. If Bened can get just a little bit faster she should absolutely earn at least a few more weeks on the World Cup. And if he’s not there we know she is more than capable of running wild on the IBU Cup as we already saw her win the Overall just last season. I’m thinking we haven’t seen near the best of Bened yet.

Amandine Mengin (21)

You want to hear something crazy? Amandine Mengin has raced 20 times in IBU level races, all of them coming last season. She has finished in the top six in all but four of those. She’s been top 20 in all but one of them. Her season included: two Juniors Worlds medals and four Juniors podiums, four IBU Cup podiums, two IBU Cup wins, European Championship Silver medal, and a World Cup debut. Now that is a debut season.

Amandine Mengin is a burner. She finished top 10 in course time rank all but three times in her races last season. That includes her one World Cup race where her course time rank was 49th. Her Juniors average course time rank was 4th and it was 8.3 on the IBU Cup. Awesome for a 20 year old. Her shooting was quite good as well as she hit 82.5% in her eight Juniors races and 90.6% in her 11 IBU Cup races.

Amandine Mengin is wildly talented. She’s already as accomplished as almost anybody else on this list as well. She’s so so good. Mengin will absolutely be heard from in the coming seasons. The space might be limited but she has exceptional talent and is only at the opening to her career. We should expect her to continue to improve. She may very well grab a World Cup spot as early as this season. However, with so many deserving women it’s still going to be a fight those starting spots. If she’s on the IBU Cup she’s a threat to win every race. If she’s on the World Cup we know she can find the top 20 if not higher.

Gilonne Guigonnat (26)

After making her debut on the World Cup at the end of the 2022-2023 season Gilonne Guigonnat started out the following year on the World Cup and stayed there basically the entire season collecting four top 10’s including her first career podium in the last race of the season. She ended the year 27th Overall on the World Cup and looked like we had every reason to believe she could be a World Cup competitor for the next few seasons.

Unfortunately last season Guigonnat ran into the same problem of so many of the French women on this list, the overwhelming talent glut. After “only” one top 10 in the first two weeks of the World Cup season she was bumped back to the IBU Cup. Once back on the IBU Cup she, without surprise, looked like one of the top women on that level. She raced there for the rest of the and had three wins, four podiums, and 11 top 10’s in 15 races as she finished 5th Overall on the IBU Cup.

Gilonne Guigonnat’s strength is her exceptional shooting. During her World Cup racing in the 2023-2024 season she hit 89.6%. Last season she shot 88.3% in her limited World Cup racing followed by 86.3% on the IBU Cup. Those are both not unusual for her as she has consistently hit in the mid to high 80’s. Her skiing is not bad at all either. She skied 6.4% faster than median on the IBU Cup and had an average course time rank of 6th. On the World Cup she had an average course time rank of 21st.

Guigonnat is going to have every opportunity to compete for the World Cup this season. With her shooting she’s going to give herself the chance. If she can continue to ski like she has she will be in the mix. Guigonnat perfectly exemplifies this level of the French team. If on the IBU Cup she’s one of the best. If on the World Cup she can compete for top 10’s and even podiums. In order to make the team she’s going to have to be better than her best yet though. Shooting in the high 80’s and skiing even a little big faster.

Paula Botet (24)

Another young French talent who was working her way back from injury was Paula Botet. In the 2022-2023 season it looked like we were about to see A LOT of Paula Botet. That season she was elevated to the “A” training group with the top French women and she turned that into 3rd Overall on the IBU Cup with 10 top 5’s in 17 races as well as the Sprint discipline globe. But then the following season she was just not right. Her skiing fell way off and her shooting dropped over 5%. She had over trained in the offseason and developed chronic pain in her shins. She figured out how to correct this problem and came back with an excellent 2024-2025 campaign.

Botet started off the season on the IBU Cup and immediately showed that not only was she back she was better than ever. She won the first race of the season. She followed that up with a 2nd and a 4th. By the end of the first trimester she had two wins, six podiums, and seen top 4 finishes in eight races. Botet was elevated to the World Cup to start the 2nd trimester and she immediately won. She raced the rest of the second trimester as well as Oslo and she had two more top 20’s including a 5th in the Mass Start to finish the season. In between she went back to the IBU Cup to finish the season and had six more top 10’s over the final eight races.

The key for Botet last season was she was skiing on a different level. She ran 7.8% faster than the median on the IBU Cup. Her average course time rank on that level was 2.6. On the World Cup her average course time rank was 19th. Botet is very much in the vain of Julia Simon and Justine Braisaz-Bouchet as she hit just 80% on the IBU Cup and 84.6% on the World Cup. That just shows how fast she was that she hit 80% on the IBU Cup and still piled up the wins and podiums.

There clearly is a path to World Cup success for Paula Botet. We’ve already seen it! It’s been paved by many before her. Be a stellar skier and shoot well enough to get it done. We’ve even seen it done by Botet last season with her win and the 5th place in the Mass Start. Now the next questions, can she get a little bit faster? She’s just 24 and everything says that she should be able to. Can she shoot a little bit better? Well previously on the IBU Cup she’s shown the ability to hit in the mid 80’s. If Paula Botet can pair together this level of skiing (maybe even faster!) with her previously demonstrated mid 80’s shooting, there is every reason to expect to see Paula Botet on the World Cup frequently.

Sophie Chauveau (26)

It feels a little bit like Sophie Chauveau has been a little bit forgotten, or at least overlooked. She’s no longer the shiny new thing as she’s been surpassed by Oceane Michelon and Jeanne Richard. She’s also hasn’t (yet) established herself on quite the level that either of them have either. But let’s not pretend like she’s suddenly bad. Even in her first seasons on the World Cup she was clearly capable of regular top 20 finishes. The problem is that three seasons later she’s just failed to progress and continue to improve. While basically every time in the world would love to have Sophie Chauveau on their World Cup team, on the highly talent rich French team it’s easy to be swamped by the crush of young talented women.

After she finished 21st and 20th in the Overall while racing full time in the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 seasons, last year she split time between the World Cup and the IBU Cup. She raced exactly 11 times on each level. On the IBU Cup she was clearly one of the best in the field with 10 top 10’s in 11 races including three podiums and win. Even in half a season she accumulated enough points to finish 8th in the IBU Cup Overall. On the World Cup she had one top 10 and a podium in the 11 races on the top level. Her average World Cup finish was 35th after being 28th in the 22-23 season and 23rd in the 23-24 season.

When you actually look at her statistics there wasn’t a huge change. Chauveau’s shooting was actually exactly the same as 2022-2023 and slightly better than 2023-2024 as she hit 80.6%. That included a career best 92.9% prone but a career worst 68.2% standing. Her skiing, though, took a slight dip. She skied just 2.3% faster than median, which was worse than her 3.1% and 3.9% faster in 22-23 and 23-24. Meanwhile her average course time rank dipped from 12th and 8th in those two seasons down to 18th last season.

Can Sophie Chauveau still be a consistent World Cup starter for the French team? It’s a pretty narrow window. The top five positions are pretty locked in. It’s a wild battle for that 6th spot. Chauveau certainly has the experience, and the other women behind her aren’t better than her (yet). But for Chauveau to keep getting run she has to start showing signs of progress. That would either be skiing closer to where she was two seasons ago or shooting in the mid 80’s. Without that she is going to continue to get nudged out by the other women on this category and those below.

Voldiya Galmace-Paulin (20)

Somehow Voldiya Galmace-Paulin may be the most talented of all of the women in this section of the list. And that includes a woman who has been 20th in the World Cup Overall, an IBU Cup Overall champion, and a woman with a World Cup title. Galmace-Paulin burst into our consciousness with her Juniors racing during the 23-24 season. She raced seven total times and was 8th or better in every race. That included a bronze in the Individual and silver in the Sprint at Youth Worlds.

Voldiya then went straight to the IBU Cup to start last season. She earned her first top 5 in the 2nd weekend of the season. Her first podium (of what actually ended up being four straight podium finishes) came at the start of the second trimester. She earned a 6th in the Individual at the European Championships. Voldiya earned her first IBU Cup win to open the 3rd trimester in Ridnaun-Val Ridanna, and she tacked on two more victories before the close of the season. In the middle she went to Junior Worlds and finished 10th, 5th, and 11th in her three solo races. What a big year for the then 19 year old!

Galmace-Paulin is more in the mold of the Simon and Braisaz-Bouchet with the fast skiing and the shooting that is taking some time to develop. That probably doesn’t give enough credit to her shooting though. She hit 83.5% last season which is way ahead of where those two were at that point in their careers. Meanwhile Voldiya skied 6.2% faster than median on the IBU Cup, again as a teenager, putting her average course time rank of 8th. That ranked just ahead of none other than Camille Bened last season.

There is no reason to believe that there is any limit to Voldiya Galmace-Paulin at this time. Of course she still has to go out and prove it which is the hard thing. But before even being 20 years old she’s shown us everything she needs to for us to believe that she has the potential to be a top 10 Overall woman on the World Cup some day and possibly competing right at the very top. As for this season the only thing limiting her from making World Cup starts is the quality of the competition within the team and the start limits per race. We can absolutely expect continued progression in her skiing this season and hopefully even in her shooting as well. That would seem to put her right at the top of the IBU Cup and with the potential for top 20 World Cup finishes should she race there.

IBU Cup – Not everybody can win the IBU Cup. Some women are still working their way towards the top!

Celia Henaff (21)

Having just completed her second year of IBU racing Celia Henaff has continued to build her profile and grow her hopes of being a part of the future of the French women’s team. After a successful debut Juniors season, she was much better in the 24-25 campaign with six top 10’s in 11 Juniors races including the gold meal in the Individual at Junior Worlds. She also had 8th in the Junior Worlds Mass 60 as well as 5th and 8th in the Junior European Championship as well. By the end of the season she earned a callup to Otepaa to close out the IBU Cup and she earned to 22nd place finishes.

Last season Henaff showed her greatest improvement in her skiing. She took her average course time rank down from 19th to 8th. That undersells how good she was as her course time ranks in the two Mass 60’s, when she clearly took her foot off the gas, significantly diminished her average. If you just look at the rest of her races her average course time rank was 4.3. On average she ran 8% faster than median It is Juniors but that’s what about the level we want to see when projective forward. The wild thins is that she was able to have all of that success while hitting just 68.8% on the range. Compare that to the 84% she hit in the 23-24 season and her results could have been even better!

Celia Henaff, while not quite as good as her teammates that are roughly her age (yet). The improvement she showed last season showed excellent ski speed. She also has much better shooting potential than she showed us last season. This season she’ll be on the IBU Cup and undoubtedly she’ll be able to have a decent level of success there. Maybe she won’t quite be at the same level as say Camille Bened, Amandine Mengin, and Paula Botet were last year but she should be more than good enough to come away with plenty of top 10’s and better.

Louise Roguet (19)

Louise Roguet is still a Junior, but she’s already good enough to earn a chance to start the season on the IBU Cup roster in Obertilliach. She’s already made her IBU Cup debut last season and was reasonably respectable for an 18 year old! Here’s a brief summary of her young career:

– 2024-2025 was second season of IBU racing. Raced Junior European and Youth World Championships. Also made IBU Cup debut with two races
– Youth World Championships: 7th, 2nd, and 1st
– Best Moment: Youth Worlds gold medal in Mass 60. Followed up silver in Sprint
– IBU Cup Finishes: 41st and 63rd (as an 18 year old!)
– Juniors Avg Course Time Rank: 7th
– Juniors Shooting Percentages: 81% (up from 72% in 23-24) hitting 86% prone and 76% standing
– Louise Roguet looks to be yet another very good rising athlete from the Junior ranks.

Anaelle Bondoux (21)

Anaelle Bondoux is rapidly turning into a great sad what if of recent biathlon. She absolutely wowed us in the 2022-2023 season as she showed spectacular speed on her way to two Juniors Cup wins including the Junior European Pursuit gold medal as well as the Junior European Championship Sprint bronze medal and two fourth place finishes at Junior Worlds. She then raced solely on the IBU Cup in the 23-24 season and was excellent once again, especially considering she was just 19 years old at the time. She had two wins, four top 5’s and eight top 10’s as she finished 4th in the IBU Cup Overall.

Last season she once again started the year on the IBU Cup, but it was clear that something wasn’t quite right. She just didn’t have the same speed or burst. In five races to start the season she had a best finish of 15th. She went back to the Junior Cup, and even not at her perfect health, she was able to have three wins including the Junior European Championship Sprint gold and Junior Worlds Mass 60 silver medals.

We found out later that she was dealing with chronic knee pain. It’s dramatically affected her ability to train. She had several knee injections this summer and based on her interviews and reporting she has seen minimal progress. In an interview last month she said there is a 90% chance she won’t race until March. She’s also mentioned that she’s trying to figure out if there is a path forward for her. I’m hopeful that this isn’t the way her career ultimately goes because she has such high potential. Hopeful it’s going to be one year away and then she’s back showing us all why we fell in love with her.

Fany Bertrand (23)

It speaks to the insane depth of the French women that an athlete like Fany Bertrand becomes nearly forgotten by most. So far in her career she has put up a career that nearly any nation would love to see in a 23 year old. As a Junior she had a victory and three podiums including winning bronze in the 2024 Junior World Mass 60. In her two IBU Cup seasons, the 2022-2023 and 2024-2025 seasons, she lined up for 13 races in each season. In those starts she accumulated 19 top 20’s, six top 10’s, and a podium in each season. Even racing just a half season she scored enough to finish 18th and 20th in the Overall category.

Fany Bertrand has succeeded in large part due to her incredible shooting. On her last two seasons as a Junior she hit 90% and 94.4%. On the IBU Cup she hit 91.9% in the 22-23 season and “slipped” to 85.5% last year. Her skiing, while not as good as some of her fellow young teammates, has still been good enough and improving. Last season she skied 3.3% faster than median and had an average course time rank of 21st. Those were both significant improvements over her skiing in the 22-23 campaign.

In most any other federation Fany Bertrand would be looked at as a future star. With the French she almost seems like an afterthought behind some of the superstar firepower in this team. She’s still quite young and Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Julia Simon won’t be around forever. As long as she keeps herself motivated and continues to grind and improve there is still a potential future for Bertrand on the World Cup. For now she can keep honing her biathlon on the IBU Cup, getting her shooting back into the 90’s and continuing to improve that skiing!

Leonie Jeannier (23)

Leonie Jeannier had a really good Juniors career. Over what was really two seasons, the 2019-2020 and 2022-2023 seasons along with 2025 Junior Worlds she raced 18 times. In those races she had four podiums, seven top 5’s, and 10 top 10’s. Included was the 2023 Juniors Worlds Bronze medal in the Individual after scoring the Silver in the same event at that season’s Junior European Championships. She also had to 5th place finishes at the 2024 Junior Worlds. Along the way she raced eight times on the IBU Cup including four last season. She had her two best IBU Cup finishes in that limited racing finishing 12th in the Brezno-Osrblie Sprint and 10th in the European Championship Individual.

At her best Jeannier is a pretty good shooter. She hit 85% in her 2022-2023 Juniors season and has hit around 80% total in her IBU Cup racing. Her skiing is improving as well. Last season she skied 3.8% faster than median on the IBU Cup improving on 0.2% faster the year before, albeit both in limited racing. In her peak season on the Juniors level in the 2022-2023 season she was 7.4% faster than median with an average course time rank of 7th.

In most other federations we would likely be seeing Leonnie Jeannier racing steadily and growing on the IBU Cup. Having two top 12 finishes including 10th at the European Championship at 22 is no small feat. She’s a victim of the success of the entire federation though in that it isn’t enough to demand consistent racing with the likes of the women above her. I truly hope she doesn’t give up though. There is a really good biathlete there and she just needs the chance to grow.

Lisa Siberchicot (23)

We have a fairly limited dataset on Lisa Siberchicot with her having raced just 11 times on the Juniors level along with her national cup racing. In her Juniors racing she does have a podium early in the 23-24 campaign along with the top 5’s. Her best Junior Worlds was that season as she finished 6th in the Sprint and 9th in the Individual along with 21st in the Mass Start.

What we saw from Siberchicot was just enough to be really interested. In her 2023-2024 racing she skied 8.6% faster than median with an average course time rank of 11th. That was a solid year over year improvement over her 5.6% faster than median skiing in 22-23 with an average course time rank of 21st. Meanwhile she shot 89% in 2023-2024 a rise from 80% the year before.

Siberchicot was showing improvement, and more than that her actual numbers were pretty dang good as well. In an ideal world she would be getting some seasoning on the IBU Cup and likely finding the top 20 on a decent at a decent rate. Thankfully the French national cup has lots of talent too. Hopefully though she’ll continue to get opportunities. Either that or she discovers a Canadian relative and she can move over! (A joke!!)

Violette Bony (22)

After one season and a grand total of five races Violette Bony is graduating! Out of the Juniors and off to the Senior level. In the 2024-2025 season, her one season of IBU racing she did have a win at the Ridnaun-Val Ridanna Sprint along with a 5th in the Goms Mass 60. Her other finishes were 17th, 18th, and 30th.

She skied a fantastic 9.6% faster than median and had an average course time rank of 4th. Her worst ski rank in those five races was 6th which she did twice. Meanwhile she hit 75.7%. That included a 10/10 in her win. She also hit 50% and 60% in the other two Sprints.

There is so much there to be intrigued by. Intriguing is really the right word. We’ve seen so little of her she’s almost an apparition. A faint vague outline of a biathlete. I just hope we get to see more of her one way or another because she absolutely has potential.

Juniors – And now another long list of women who are working their way up the ladder.

Lou-Anne Dupont Ballet Baz (20)

– 2024-2025 was second season of IBU racing. Raced five total races across two Junior Cup weekends. Did not race Junior Worlds
– 2024 Junior Worlds: 11th, 12th, and 4th
– 2025-2026 Finishes: 6th, 25th, 9th, 37th, and 8th
– Best Moment: 6th in Individual at Ridnaun-Val Ridanna stop.
– Juniors Avg Course Time Rank: 16th (stable year over year)
– Juniors Shooting Percentages: 77.1% (down from 85% in 23-24) hitting 85.7% prone and 68.6% standing

Lola Bugeaud (19)

– 2024-2025 was second season of IBU racing. Raced Youth Worlds in 23-24 and full season in 24-25
– Youth Worlds: 6th, 23rd, and 27th
– Best Moment: 6th in the Youth Worlds Individual and 4th in the Goms Mass 60.
– Juniors Avg Course Time Rank: 13th (stable compared to 23-24)
– Juniors Shooting Percentages: 70.6% (down from 88% in 23-24) hitting 69.4% prone and 71.8% standing

Coralie Perrin (19)

– 2024-2025 was debut season on the IBU. Raced Junior European Championships and Youth World Championships
– Youth Worlds: 17th, 9th, and 17th
– Best Moment: 2nd in the Sprint at the Junior European Championships. Followed it up with a 5th in the Mass 60.
– Juniors Avg Course Time Rank: 9th
– Juniors Shooting Percentages: 80% while hitting 76% prone and 84% standing

Namou Candau-Aramnd (19)

– 2024-2025 was debut season on the IBU. Raced at Ridnaun-Val Ridanna and Goms
– Finishes: 21st, 10th, 25th, 11th, and 10th
– Best Moment: 11th and 10th in the Sprint and Mass 60 in Goms
– Juniors Avg Course Time Rank: 18th
– Juniors Shooting Percentages: 80% while hitting 74.3% prone and 85.7% standing

Alice Dusserre (19)

– 2024-2025 was second season racing. Raced at 2024 and 2025 Youth Worlds.
– 2025 Youth Worlds: 10th, 15th, and 33rd
– Best Moment: 10th in Youth Worlds Individual was career best. 15th in Aprint would have been career best too.
– Juniors Course Time Ranks: 29th, 31st, and 24th. Improved from 57th, 48th, and 39th at the 2024 Youth Worlds
– Juniors Shooting Percentages: 90%, 90%, and 65%. Almost exactly the same as year prior.

Eva Laine (21)

– 2024-2025 was second season racing. Raced at Ridnaun-Val Ridanna and Junior European Championships
– Junior European Championships: 66th, 21st, and 46th
– Best Moment: 21st in the Sprint at the Junior European Championships
– Juniors Avg Course Time Rank: 14th (down from 5th in 23-24)
– Juniors Shooting Percentages: 57.8% (down from 82% the year prior) hitting 66.7% prone and 48.9% standing

Pauline Machut (22)

– 2024-2025 was second season racing. Raced at Junior European Championships
– Junior European Championships: 26th, 35th, and 37th
– Juniors Course Time Ranks: 14th, 28th, and 22nd
– Juniors Shooting Percentages: 75%, 70%, and 65%

Men – While the World Cup women have a massive list of possible talents let’s not overlook the talent on the men’s side! There are three men who could conceivably fight for the Overall title and will certainly be competing for a heap of Olympic medals in Antholz. Fabien Claude is as steady as it gets. Antonin Guigonnat continues to fight hard to hold his position. Oscar Lombardot has had big moments as well. Beyond that there are some intriguing talents that haven’t quite taken the next step. But just because they haven’t done it yet doesn’t mean that they won’t. Plus there is the continuing recovery of Emilien Claude from his surprise back surgery in early September. Plenty of opportunities for men to get to the World Cup level this season!

Quota: 6 Athletes to Start

World Cup – The top three are as solid as they come on the World Cup. Eric Perrot is one of the favorites for the Overall title if he chooses to fight for it. Quentin Fillon Maillet has an Overall on his trophy case and appears to be ready to fight for more glory this season. Emilien Jacquelin can be boom or bust but his boom is as good as it gets. Fabien Claude continues to role on as a steady presence. Then we have two spots that might rotate. For now those spots go to A healthy Emilien Claude would have taken one solidly but it remains to be seen how his back will hold up. Here’s the World Cup team to start the season:
– Eric Perrot
– Quentin Fillon Maillet
– Emilien Jacquelin
– Fabien Claude
– Emilien Claude (if healthy)
– Antonin Guigonnat

Eric Perrot (24)

It was just about four years ago that the broader biathlon world started to see Eric Perrot. Those who had been locked in new about this rising talent, but it was four years ago that he joined the World Cup full time. As a 20 year old he showed up at the World Cup and for a 20 year old he looked pretty dang good. He wasn’t setting the world on fire but he was consistently finishing in the 30’s and 40’s and showing pretty good skiing for his age. In fact his ski speed for his age was compared to Martin Fourcade multiple times that season. He even had fantastic 8th place in the Ruhpolding Sprint that really said “Hey, you should pay attention to me!” The next season he made his first podium.

By the 23-24 season he was a regular in the top 10 to the point it just didn’t even surprise anybody anymore. It wasn’t a surprise to see this young rising French talent getting into the mix. It was just where he belonged. He put his stamp on the season at the World Championships and in the final trimester. At the Nove Mesto Worlds he had three to 10 finishes. In the last trimester he was top 10 five times in seven races including most importantly his first career World Cup win in the Soldier Hollow Sprint.

Last season Perrot came in with expectations and somehow superseded them. Racing as a 23 year old on a team with a former Overall Globe champion who is still in the prime of his career Perrot really established himself as the top man on the team. He had three wins and six podiums along with 15 top 10’s on his way to finishing 3rd in the Overall behind only Sturla Holm Laegreid and JT Boe.

Perrot has shown great ski speed throughout his career and that has continued to develop throughout his career. His average course time rank improved form 28th two seasons ago to 14th and now 11th last season. He skied a career best 3.6% faster than median last season. Almost more importantly though he shooting has really improved. He went from being a decent shooter hitting in the low to mid 80’s to a great one. Last year he hit 89.8% of his shots including 92.9% standing. That gave him the 7th best overall hit rate and the best standing shooting in men’s biathlon.

	Prone %	Standing %	Total %	Shooting Time
2021-2022	84	81	82.5	37.2
2022-2023	82.5	84.2	83.3	27.2
2023-2024	83.3	86.2	84.8	26.2
2024-2025	86.7	92.9	89.8	25.6

As the 2024-2025 season gets underway Eric Perrot is now one of the men to beat. With the depature of the Boe brothers you are going to see a list of favorites for the men’s globe that starts with Sturla Holm Laegreid and Eric Perrot in whatever order you want to put them in. Listening to Campbell Wright recently he basically said that they are all in trouble based on the ski speed that he saw at Loop One. Perrot is a ridiculously young man. He’s still just 24. But he’s got *it*. He has the speed. He has the shooting. And most importantly he has no fear of the moment. He embraces it. I’m very much looking forward to the men’s Overall mix without JT Boe in it (love you JT but this is just going to be fascinating!) and I absolutely expect Eric Perrot to be right in the battle!

Quentin Fillon Maillet (33)

Four years ago, as the 2022 Beijing Olympic season got underway, Quentin Fillon Maillet looked around at the biathlon landscape and said “It’s my time.” While so many men made the Olympics their sole focus (with mixed results), QFM decided he didn’t want to focus on just one aspect of the season, he wanted it all. And he took it all. It was without a doubt the season of QFM. He won 10 races. He had 16 podiums. He had 23 top 10’s in 26 races. He won six total Olympic medals and finished 4th in the Mass Start. He basically wrapped up the Men’s Overall Globe by the end of the second trimester. He cruised to the finish and hoisted the Overall Globe along with the Sprint and Pursuit globes. It was the season of Quentin Fillon Maillet

Since that conquering season QFM just hasn’t really been able to capture the same feeling or form. He had four consecutive four straight top 3 Ovearll finishes. Since then he’s finished 8th, 16th, and 5th. He talked openly about all of the new pressures on him and the stresses being an Overall champion. He also openly had some difficulties with the former coaching staff. His ski speed initially took a little dip before returning to form the last two seasons. Most worrisome though his shooting fell sharply. As a result over those three campaigns he has just a single win and nine podiums.

You can see after hitting between 87%-89% for five straight seasons his hit rate fell to 83% and 82.1% the last two years. Also after his average course time rank slipped from consistently being between 5th and 7th down to 11th for the 22-23 and 23-24 seasons. Last season though it did return to 6th. And of course we know he’s one of the fastest shooters in biathlon averaging just 23.9 seconds per shoot last season including 19.4 seconds per standing shoot.

	Prone %	Standing %	Total %	Shooting Time
2018-2019	86.3	91.2	88.8	29.3
2019-2020	88.8	85.9	87.4	27.2
2020-2021	84	90.5	87.6	26.7
2021-2022	86.7	90.5	88.6	27.9
2022-2023	88.3	88.9	88.6	24.9
2023-2024	81.5	84.5	83	24.6
2024-2025	78.1	86.2	82.1	23.9

If Quentin Fillon Maillet has another big time season in him this very might be it. JT Boe is gone. He is still only 33 and his skiing is absolutely as good as it ever was. The key will be if he can get his shooting up. If you want just one thing to watch for QFM this season it’s his prone shooting. Formerly a very good prone shooter he hit only 81.5% and 78.1% the last two seasons. If he is going to be in the mix for wins, podium, medals, and even the Overall, which he absolutely can do, it’s all about finding his prone shooting. If he’s hitting mid 80’s in prone shooting my guess is we see something resembling 2021-2022. Of course expecting that level would be a lot but he’ll be in the mix!

Emilien Jacquelin (30)

While there are certainly more successful biathlete, there are few more entertaining biathletes on the course. If you were just to make a list of biathletes who are going to put on a show, either good or bad!, it absolutely has to include Emilien Jacquelin. He could race to the front and just run away from the pack and win. We’ve seen it happen. He could also run to the front and then completely blow a gasket and sink way back in the pack. We’ve seen him crush the competition with incredibly fast and accurate shooting. And we’ve also seen him racing along and then suddenly just have a 1/5 shooting as he blazed away in just 18 seconds and blow up his race. You never know where he’s going to end up. But the great thing is that he has the talent to win every race. Just last season he won twice, the most in a single season in his career. He had five top 5’s. And yet somehow he had only nine top 10’s. That just doesn’t seem right. But it’s the classic Jacquelin experience, he goes up to the top, he goes backwards, you just never know!

Actually the best part about Emilien Jacquelin is that he’s an open book. He has been open for years now about how he’s been affected by anxiety and depression. He’s talked about how down he’s been feeling. He’s talked about how it made him feel like he just didn’t want to keep racing anymore. He found solace in other avenues with therapy. He’s become a world class photographer. And most endearingly he’s been a good friend to several other biathletes as well. As maddening as it can be to watch Jacquelin when his race is going sideways, it’s also touching to hear the stories about he talked to other athletes and friends who were having a hard time. Even if only for that I will always be a fan of Emilien Jacquelin.

The statistics for Jacquelin almost don’t matter. He’s a very good skier. Every season he ranks in the top 10 in overall skiing. His shooting is streaky with no real pattern but always ends up pretty much in the same place, an overall hit rate in the low 80’s. But it can vary wildly day to day. It can vary wildly shoot to shoot. How many times have we seen him going along and then throw four shots wide while he’s shooting incredibly fast. The only consistency with his racing is we know he’s going to be inconsistent and shoot fast.

	Prone %	Standing %	Total %	Shooting Time
2018-2019	85.7	77.7	81.7	27.4
2019-2020	90.6	83.8	87.2	25.6
2020-2021	89.5	85.2	87.4	26.5
2021-2022	87	78	82.5	27.9
2022-2023	86.7	70.8	78.3	26.3
2023-2024	84.8	80.5	82.6	24
2024-2025	88	78	83	24.5

I’ve come full circle with Emilien Jacquelin. I used to lose my mind watching Jacquelin blow up a race either by pushing himself too hard on the course and fading late or with completely wild shooting. I yearned so badly for him to just get it “under control.” The last two years though I’ve just come to love and respect Jacquelin for who he is. He’s embraced his inner self and this is how he has to race. He’s just compelled to. And you know what? Who am I to tell him differently. He’s one of the best in the world. Is there an alternative universe where by racing with a just slightly more conservative style he could have more success? Probably. But this version of Emilien Jacquelin is becoming comfortable in his own skin. He’s growing. He’s succeeding. I couldn’t be happier for him and I’m ready to just enjoy the ride. He’s endlessly entertaining and a friend to those in need. Sometimes that’s enough regardless of results.

Fabien Claude (30)

Steady as they go is the name of the game for Fabien Claude. The most highly decorated of the Claude brother trio, Fabien has been a bit under the radar because of the success of his teammates. His last six seasons are certainly worthy of being proud of. The middle brother has been top 20 in the Overall every year including a career best 10th Overall in the 2022-2023 season. He’s brought home five total podiums including two last season on his way to his 2nd best Overall season finish of 12th in the final rankings. Every season he’s good for between 5-7 top 10s and just shy of 20 top 20’s per year.

Fabien Claude’s skiing has usually outpaced his shooting as he’s finished top 20 in overall skiing each of the last six seasons. Last season he was right in the same range with an average course time rank of 14th as he skied 2.8% faster than median which was good enough for 13th in overall skiing. His shooting has also been steady, but maybe not quite as good as he would like. Still hitting in the low 80’s every year is nothing to be ashamed of. Last year he was in the same range as he hit 81.7% overall. And he’s not exactly a slow shooter as he’s averaged between 26 and 28 seconds per shoot every year the last five seasons.

	Prone %	Standing %	Total %	Shooting Time
2020-2021	79.3	80.7	80	29.3
2021-2020	78	80	79	27.6
2022-2021	83.1	76.4	79.7	26
2022-2023	87.6	79.5	83.6	27.3
2023-2024	87.6	80.5	83.2	27.1
2024-2025	84.8	78.6	81.7	26.6

Fabien Claude expressly stated that his biggest goal this season is bringing home a solo medal. He has shown that he absolutely has the ability to do it. It will take the best of what he has but he’s put it together recently including two of them last season, and nearly a 3rd when he finished 4th in the Pokljuka Mass Start. I would be thrilled for Fabien to be able to achieve his goal this season in Antholz. From an Overall perspective I think it’s fair to assume that he should once again slot in where he has for each of the last six seasons. As we started with he has been remarkably steady and there is no reason to expect that to change any time soon.

Emilien Claude (26)

While we aren’t expecting any significant changes with Fabien Claude, Emilien Claude could be a different story. He was the subject of one of the most difficult summers of this season. He’s been having back pain off and on, but this summer it got much worse. As he was preparing to race in the Italian Summer National Championships he pulled out of the event due to worsening pain. The pain eventually resulted in a back surgery. In fact it was so bad that he opted to have the surgery in Austria where he was living with his girlfriend Anna Gandler rather than going back to France for it.

He got back to walking pretty quickly. And then hiking. And then pretty extensive hiking. He’s been back to full training now. However he’s still well behind where he would normally hope to be at this time. As a result we likely wont’ see his best until later in the season. However, the early results so far are promising considering everything that he has been through.

It’s unfortunate, first of all because Emilien is such a likeable man. Also, though, because he was coming off of easily his best season to date. After having teases of World Cup experience the last four seasons, last year Emilien took ownership of one of the regular World Cup positions. He started the year right out on the World Cup and did alright in the first trimester finishing consistently in the 30’s. He got it in gear to start the second trimester finishing 8th, 13th, and then a career best 2nd in the first three races out of the holiday break. He kept the momentum through the rest of the year putting up four total top 10’s and 10 top 20’s as he finished 21st in the Overall.

Throughout his career Emilien Claude has been a steady if not sensational shooter. He is consistently in the mid to low 80’s regardless of level. Last season he hit 84.5%, right where he usually is. His skiing though did make a nice step forward. He skied a career best 1.7% faster than median on the World Cup with an average course time rank of 22nd, much better than his avg ski rank of 38th and 48th the last two seasons.

Emilien’s goal at this point is get himself in shape to earn an Olympic spot. He is doing better than I might have expected considering his late summer back surgery. However early good results is probably too much expect. I am hoping that once again we see him surge coming out of the holiday break. That will be roughly 4 months from his surgery and should allow him to be returning to form. Even still it’s a long way back from such a late surgery that had such an impact on his training. As somebody who just likes and supports him I would be thrilled to see him build throughout the year and close out the season strong possibly in the 2nd and more likely 3rd trimester. Hopefully he is able to at the very least earn a reserve spot for the Olympics and experience the glory of the Olympic Games!

Antonin Guigonnat (34)

Antonin Guigonnat has really warmed into his role as the elder statesman of the French team. Though he’s just one year older than QFM, it almost feels like his stature as somebody who is not competing for wins and Overall glory it allows him to take on a slightly different role. Also his maturity he brings has been nice for the team as well. Now as a dad, and he clearly takes the role with much joy, maybe that can make him the team dad? One can hope!

One thing is clear, he’s not ready to be done. He spoke this fall about how he sees himself as the barrier to the team. In order for the young guys to make the team they have to prove they can dislodge him. He’s like the “final boss” to making the team for the younger French men. After a bit of a down year in 2023-2024 Guigonnat really hasn’t been making life easy on the young French. He returned last season for a full year of racing missing only a week for the birth of his daughter. He had another solid season with two top 10’s and nine top 20’s as he finished 24th in the Overall. Not nearly his career best of 11th but every other year he’s been between 27th and 20th so this was really a return to his normal form.

What is Guigonnat’s normal form? Well that’s more difficult to ascertain. For most of his career it’s been solid skiing that helps him overcome shooting in the low 80’s. Last season though it sort of flipped on his head. His skiing dripped, falling from an average course time rank usually near 20 down to 28th last year as he dropped from skiing around 1.5% faster than median down to just barely faster than median. However, for the first time in his career he shot in the upper 80s as he hit 87% overall with 90% prone and 84% standing. That improved accuracy really helped him overcome his slip in speed. It also didn’t hurt that he had his fastest shooting of his career too averaging just 25.3 seconds per shoot.

Hopefully we see one last surge from Guigonnat. I’m so hopeful that he’s able to bring the best of everything this year: Skiing like he has for most of his career while shooting like he did in 24-25. It would allow him one last surge towards glory. He hasn’t had a top 5 since the 2021-2022 season, if he can do those two things (huge if but totally possible!) he could find another one. I would love for him to get a medal at the Olympics. However, even if he makes the Olympic team it’s going to be difficult for him to crack the top 4 for the relays. We can dream though!

Rounding Out the World Cup/IBU Cup – The top four spots are on the World Cup should be pretty solid all season. The 5th and 6th positions will likely rotate. If Emilien Claude is healthy like he was last season then he may lock down that 5th spot. But at this point that remains to be seen. We noted above who has those World Cup spots for now. They were included above because they are on the World Cup for Oestersund, but they are really in this position. Here are a few others who would be the favorites to get into the World Cup at some point this season. And the IBU Cup roster to start the season:
– Oscar Lombardot
– Gaetan Paturel
– Theo Guiraud-Poillot
– Valentin Lejeune
– Damien Levet
– Corentin Jacob

Oscar Lombardot (25)

If Antonin Guigonnat is serving as a dragon to slay of sorts to make the World Cup squad regularly, the man who has most frequently found himself in battle with that dragon is Oscar Lombardot. Now that’s not to say that there is any animosity between the two. It really seems like the two of them get along well. But Guigonnat’s continued perseverance has resulted in Lombardot splitting IBU Cup and World Cup time the last few seasons rather than getting more consistent World Cup racing.

Over the last three seasons Lombardot has raced ten, eight, and six races on the World Cup respectively. It’s sort of trending in the wrong direction. Meanwhile he’s raced 11, 10, and 16 times on the IBU Cup in those seasons. In those limited seasons of racing on the IBU Cup he has finished 9th, 18th, and 12th in the Overall standings. Meanwhile on the World Cup he has actually shown improving form, even with diminishing race opportunities. Last season in just six races he had four top 20’s after having just one total in his prior 20 World Cup races. This included finishing 10th in the Nove Mesto Prusuit, the first top 10 of his World Cup career.

The statistical story on Oscar Lombardot is a bit of a mixed bag. There are signs of progress and signs of plateau. Let’s start with the skiing. Looking at his IBU Cup data he has skied between 5.4% and 5.9% faster than median each of the last three seasons. On the World Cup he has been between median and 1.3% faster than median each of those seasons as well. Her average course time ranks have been 6th and 7th each season on the IBU Cup and between 30th and 35th on the World Cup.

The shooting has been entirely inconsistent. The IBU Cup shooting has trended downward. After peaking at 86.2% it’s been lower each season since then bottoming out at 78% last season. That’s driven entirely by his standing shooting which has decreased from the mid 80’s down to the upper 60’s. His prone shooting has budged. Meanwhile if you looked only at his World Cup shooting data you would see improving shooting as he went from 80% to 85% and then 92% with even splits last season. It’s completely the opposite from his shooting on the IBU Cup. Unfortunately I tend to weight the IBU Cup shooting more heavily as she has raced more on that level more recently. But it’s still a cloudy picture at best.

Oscar Lombardot is still just 25 years old this season. Definitely on the young side. Definitely still chance to grow and improve. Honestly, though, what I want to see most from Lombardot this season is consistency. I just want to know who he is. Is he the guy who is shooting better and better on the World Cup or the one who is not shooting as well on the IBU Cup? And hopefully we’ll see his skiing start to trend upwards again.

With the French team having six roster spots, and with Emilien Claude recovering from back surgery and Antonin Guigonnat only getting older, there is certainly an opportunity there if Lombardot is ready to grab it. I’m sure that he’s going to do everything he can to “slay the dragon” and find himself permanently on the World Cup.

Gaetan Paturel (22)

Gaetan Paturel is the first really young man on this list. He has just a couple of seasons of racing under his belt and this will be the first season he’s ever had where he didn’t race as a Junior. Looking back at his Juniors racing there is a pretty limited number of races to look at with just 11 races including Junior Worlds last season. In total he has three top 10’s including last season’s Mass 60 in which he finished 6th. Other than that he ran four races in the 22-23 season when all of his finishes were between 22nd and 38th. He did have the bronze medal in the 2022 Junior European Championship Individual and 8th in the Sprint in those same championships.

He has started to race consistently on the IBU Cup the last two seasons including the entire 2024-2025 campaign. He’s actually had better success than you would probably imagine including six top 10’s and a top 5 last season. Almost more importantly he developed a pretty solid floor to his performance with 16 top 20’s in 21 races. He ended up finishing 8th in the IBU Cup Overall.

Paturel has shown an improving strength in his skiing the last few seasons. Last year he was up to 10th in overall skiing on the IBU Cup. His average course time rank bumped from 34th all the way up to 11th year over year. In his three Juniors races last season he was, as you would hope, one of the fastest men as he had course time ranks of 1st, 4th, and 4th.

Now that he’s got his skiing on a definitively intriguing trajectory, aiming at being one of the fastest men on the IBU Cup this season, it’s time for the shooting to come along too. He’s been consistently hitting in the mid 70’s either as a Junior or on the IBU Cup. Last season he hit 78.4% which was a slight improvement including 83.8% standing.

Paturel does have very good ski speed. As we look forward there is absolutely a path to the World Cup within the next year or two if he keeps this up. The key for Paturel will be improving the shooting. A 2% year over year increase was nice. Hopefully he can replicate that or even a little bit more. I would absolutely love to see him at 82% or better. I’ll be happy with anything over 80%. Either of those would show me he continues to march towards the World Cup goal. Regardless Paturel is absolutely one to keep tabs on even if he spends another full season on the IBU Cup. If he’s on the IBU Cup full season I will be hoping to see him running as one of the top men on that level.

Theo Guiraud Poillot (23)

Theo Guiraud Poillot is another fun young Frenchmen who is looking to rise up the team and IBU Cup rankings this season. The 23 year old transitioned over to the IBU Cup two years ago and has been running there basically full time since then. The last two seasons he’s finished 17th and 11th in the IBU Cup Overall. Year over year he doubled his top 10’s from three to six. He increased his top 20’s from eight to 13. And he had just three finishes outside the top 30 last season.

Poillot’s become a slightly better skier than he is a shooter but he’s showing progress year over year in both. His skiing improved from 1.1% to 3.1% faster than median as his average course time rank was 17th and 22nd each of the last two seasons. Also his shooting has climbed from the low to mid 70’s up a little bit to reach 80.8% last season. That was his best on any level as he hit a career best 82.2% prone. He could definitely stand to improve his shooting speed though as he averaged 33.3 seconds per shoot.

Theo Guiraud Poillot is steadily improving year over year. At this point he’s probably still a year or three a way from being able to earn consistent World Cup racing. The good news, though, is that he continues to grow. His skiing a little bit faster. His shooting a little bit better. Likely that this season he will see himself crack the IBU Cup top 10 Overall and likely his first top 5’s and podiums. He’s definitely a man on the rise.

IBU Cup – These men will likely spend most of the season on the IBU Cup. Last year the French men only started seven different men on the World Cup so it’s a hard list to crack. These men will be fighting for that breakthrough to get a tough earned start on the top level!

Valentin Lejeune (22)

Another 22 year old making the permanent move from Juniors to Seniors racing is Valentin Lejeune though. He does have a bit of Seniors experience already though having 19 IBU Cup races competed and already having made his World Cup debut. As a Junior Lejeune did have a handful of top 10’s. By far his most important would be his Silver medal in the Individual at the 2024 Junior Worlds. He also finished 6th in the Sprint at those championships. He also has eight top 20’s on the IBU Cup with two top 10’s and a career best 6th in the 23-24 season. Last year he raced at the European Championship and came away with a 50th, 22nd and 36th.

As a Junior Lejeune showed his best skiing early in his career and it never really seemed to improve as he continued on. That’s held true on the IBU Cup as well as his average course time rank dropped from 18th to 35th over the last two seasons. Thankfully his shooting has improved from hit rates in the 70’s to low 80’s as his career has progressed.

Lejeune’s current situation is a bit of a mix between Broutier and Garnier. Like Broutier he seems to have had a season of plateau and it would be nice to see that trajectory moving up again. But like Garnier he’s also still quite young, turning just 23 in December. Still plenty of time, but it would be nice at the very least to see him taking advantage of that and getting a little faster and a little more accurate this season.

Damien Levet (24)

Damien Levet showed up to the 2019-2020 Youth Worlds and had a great IBU debut weekend. He won silver in the Individual before finishing 7th in the Sprint and 9th in the Pursuit. And for a little while that was really it. He had just three more top 10’s total for the final ten races of his Juniors career.

On the IBU Cup he has been showing some intriguing flashes over the last two seasons. In the 23-24 campaign he has back to back finishes in the flowers in Sprint races in Idre Fjäll and a run of top 20’s late in the season. Last year he raced early in the season in Geilo but then didn’t get another call up to the IBU Cup until the final trimester. He made it count with four top 10’s in the final five races to say “hey, don’t forget about me!”

As a Junior Levet was more of a skier than a shooter, consistently putting up top 10 course time ranks but only hitting in the low 80’s at best. On the IBU Cup he’s seeing real growth. The hit rate has solidified and he has hit 82% or higher the last two seasons. His skiing is also coming very nicely as he’s improved from 1.3% fast than median to 2.7% faster than median in 23-34 and 4.8% faster last season. That improved his average ski rank all the way up to 16th.

At this point what Damien Levet showed last season, to me anyway, indicates that he’s earned more opportunities. However he’s in a position where he really needs to do a lot more of what he did last season, turning those opportunities into high finishes. He’s clearly showed that he can ski himself into that position. A little more improvement there, and pushing the hit rate closer to 85% and we’ll see Levet full time on the IBU Cup this year. In fact if he did that he all season he would basically be a lock for an IBU Cup top 10.

Corentin Jacob (22)

Corentin Jacob enters the Senior ranks this season with mostly national cup racing so far in his career. He has raced eight times on the IBU Junior Cup with finishes anywhere from 4th (his first career race at the 2022 Junior European Championship) to 57th. Most recently he raced the 2025 Junior Worlds and finished 31st, 28th, and 12th.

Over his years we’ve see. His skiing definitively improve as he’s moved from ski ranks in the 30’s to 20’s and last season 13th, 7th, and 9th. His shooting wasn’t terrific last season but it was just three races. With such little sample size it’s difficult to really gauge how he really is doing.

To me Jacob remains a big question mark. His finishes this summer in Arçon and La Feclaz were 11th, 13th, and 14th. Hopefully we get to see a little more of him this season! He had a really couple of races in Bessans to earn a spot in Obertilliach to start the season. We’ll see what he can do against the big boys now!

Remi Broutier (25)

Without looking back at it I’m sure that two seasons ago when preparing this post I wrote that Remi Broutier was a young man worth watching as he was rising up the ranks of French biathlon. At that point he was a 23 year old coming off of a top 10 Overall finish on the IBU Cup in which he showed a higher floor to his performances with 11 top 20’s. He was showing the best skiing of his career and everything seemed to indicate upward momentum. The last two seasons that’s stalled out if not even regressed.

Over the last two seasons Broutier’s skiing has fallen from a career peak in that 22-23 season. At that point his average ski rank was 15th. The last two seasons it’s been 35th and 21st. His shooting has been up and down. Historically a mid 70’s shooter in the 23-24 season he hit 88% total over nine races. However last season that number regressed to his career averages as he hit 75.5%.

Of course nothing happens in a vacuum. So while this was going on we also saw some younger French men move up and perform well. As has been well documented the French federation can be a tough organization (not necessarily bad) and focused very much on what has been done lately. He also had to call an early end to his season in 23-24 as his legs just weren’t cooperating and giving him the needed power. But still last season just five top 20’s and a season’s best of 15th is not the place we would have been hoping for considering the trajectory of 2-3 seasons ago. The good news is he’s still young. The bad news is regardless of his age, the external pressures of the system and the other athletes mean that it’s getting close to time when he absolutely has to show the next step.

Axel Garnier (22)

The 22 year old Axel Garnier enters the season with just two seasons of IBU racing to date. So far the results haven’t been mind blowing, but not awful either. He did score a career best 9th place in the Sprint at the 2024 Junior Worlds. He also made his IBU Cup debut and raced 11 times on that level with five top 20’s and setting a career best of 13th on the IBU Cup.

Garnier did show nice year over year progress. In the Juniors racing his average course time rank improved from 33rd to 18th. And even in his IBU Cup racing it was 27th as he ran 1.8% faster than median. Shooting showed mild progress advancing from 76% as a Junior in 23-24 to 80% on the IBU Cup last season.

With Axel Garnier there is going to be a little more patience. He looks, at least at this point, to be a bit of a later bloomer. And that’s okay! He showed nice progression over the two seasons and will hopefully continue that this year. My personal checkpoints for him will be seeing course time ranks in the top 20 on a regular basis and hitting 82.5% or better. It’s not going to result in a miraculous breakthrough but should move him to top 20-30 on the IBU Cup. And then we do it again the following year!

Edgar Geny (22)

So far Edgar Geny’s young career has been defined as much by starts and stops and ups and downs as anything else. Every time it seems that he’s building he either misses some time from the IBU races or he is unable, for one reason or another, to keep the momentum going. A couple of prime examples: in the 22-23 season he had a 7th in the Junior European Championship Sprint and the opened Junior Worlds finishing 9th in the Individual. But the two races before that had been 32nd and 50th and the two races following were 34th and 51st. He started the next season out finishing 3rd and 8th as well as teaming up with Fany Bertrand for a Single Mixed 2nd place. After that he raced just one time the rest of the season.

Last year he did race more frequently at least making 17 non-relay starts combined on the Junior Cup and IBU Cup. If included some nice successes with a career best 11th in the concluding Sprint of the IBU Cup season in Otepää. On the Juniors he has three top 10’s, all 8th place interestingly, with one of them in the Junior Worlds Individual.

It may not be a surprise the Edgar Geny is fast on the skis but his shooting is incredibly inconsistent. Last season on the IBU Cup he had 10 races. In three of them he hit 90% and in three of them he hit 65% or less. But his skiing was good as he was consistently top 25 in course time rank and even finished as high as 4th fastest in one race. Looking back at his Juniors racing it’s basically more of the same. He did ski incredibly fast at the end with top 3 course time ranks in each of the Junior Worlds races, but the rifle was too inconsistent to take advantage.

Edgar Geny’s ski speed makes him worth monitoring. This season he should be a top 15 skier on the World Cup. Heck already ranked 24th in overall skiing last season. So if he can at least get more consistent with the shooting I’ll take it as a positive step. Eliminate the really bad days and he’s halfway there. Shoot in the mid to high 70’s and keep the ski speed improving as he hope it will and he’s on top something!

Martin Botet (21)

Martin Botet feels like a guy who is almost being pushed out of the nest before he is ready. With the IBU lowering the age threshold for Juniors competition, the 21 year old, who last season would have been back on the Junior Cup, is instead full time Seniors now.

The good news for Botet is that at least he seems to be trending up. With such limited data though it could just be noise. Here’s what we see though… After beginning last season on the IBU Cup and looking significantly overmatched as he finished 70th and 61st, he looked more settled later in the year on the Juniors level. In Goms he had two 22nd place finishes and at the Junior European Championship he surged to the finish with a 15th in the Individual and bronze in the Mass 60. This summer he again looked solid as he finished with two 5th place finishes in the French competitions in Arçon and La Feclaz.

Against Juniors last season Botet was a solid skier finishing top 15 in course time ranks, and even being the fastest man one day. The shooting was all over the map from 40% to 90% throughout the season.

The sample sizes for Martin Botet are tiny. So that’s really what I want to see is just more racing. Hopefully these races this summer show a confident young man getting ready to show of some solid improvements!

Juniors – Finally we come to the French Junior Men. This isn’t close to a complete list! I’m sorry about that!

Antonin Guy (19)

– 2024-2025 was second season of IBU racing. Raced Youth Worlds in both seasons
– 2025 Youth Worlds: 1st, 10th, and 11th
– Best Moment: 1st in Individual at both 2024 and 2025 Youth Worlds
– Juniors Course Time Ranks: 10th, 8th, and 8th
– Juniors Shooting Percentages: 95%, 80%, and 65%

Leo Carlier (19)

– 2024-2025 was second season of IBU racing. Raced 2024 Youth Worlds and then full season in 24-25
– 2025 Youth Worlds: 3rd, 2nd, and 1st
– Best Moment: Triple podium at Youth Worlds
– Juniors Avg Course Time Ranks: 12th (improved from 24th in the 23-24 season)
– Juniors Shooting Percentages: 85.3% with almost perfectly even split

Camille Grataloup-Manissolle (19)

– 2024-2025 was second season of IBU racing. Raced four races in 23-24 and Junior European and Youth World Championships
– 2025 Youth Worlds: 5th, 6th, and 3rd
– 2025 Junior European Championships: 4th, 3rd, and 10th
– Best Moment: bronze medal in Youth Worlds Mass 60
– Juniors Avg Course Time Ranks: 7th (improved from 24th in 23-24 season)
– Juniors Shooting Percentages: 83% while hitting 86% prone and 80% standing

Guillaume Poirot (20)

– 2024-2025 was debut season. Did not race at Youth Worlds
– 2025 Junior European Championships: 19th, 27th, and 16th
– Best Moment: 2nd in Mass 60 in Goms, 3rd in second Sprint in Ridnaun-Val Ridanna
– Juniors Avg Course Time Ranks: 4th
– Juniors Shooting Percentages: 78.3% hitting 90% prone and 66.7% standing

Lionel Jouannaud (21)

– 2024-2025 was second season of IBU racing. Raced Ridnaun-Val Ridanna and Goms but did not race Junior European or Junior World Championships
– 2025 Finishes: 21st, 4th, 23rd, 16th, and 11th
– Best Moment: 4th in Ridnaun-Val Ridanna Sprint
– Juniors Avg Course Time Ranks: 12th (improved from 20th in 23-24)
– Juniors Shooting Percentages: 74.3% (down from 82.5% in 23-24) while hitting perfectly even splits

Flavio Guy (19)

– 2024-2025 was second season of IBU racing. Raced Youth Worlds in both seasons
– 2025 Youth Worlds: 9th, 18th, and 2nd
– Best Moment: Silver Medal in Youth Worlds Mass 60
– Juniors Course Time Ranks: 1st, 3rd, and 2nd
– Juniors Shooting Percentages: 75%, 60%, and 70%

Antonin Delsol (20)

– 2024-2025 was debut season. Raced Junior European Championships and IBU Cup weekends in Otepaa
– Junior European Championship: 2nd, 11th, and 18th
– 2025 IBU Cup finishes: 28th, 26th, 30th, 65th, and 17th
– Best Moment: Silver Medal in Individual at Junior European Championships
– Juniors Course Time Ranks: 7th, 8th, 14th
– Juniors Shooting Percentages: 90%, 80%, 70%
– IBU Cup Course Time Ranks: 14th, 11th, 18th, 35th, and 15th
– IBU Cup Shooting Percentages: 50%, 70%, 65%, 65%, 80%

Lou Thievent (22)

– 2024-2025 was 4th season of racing. He raced at Ridnaun-Val Ridanna on the Junior Cup. Previously raced six IBU Cup races in 22-23 and three Juniors races in 23-24.
– 2025 Junior Cup finishes: 12th, 25th, and 34th
– Previous best career moments were 13th and two 15th place finishes on the IBU Cup during the 22-23 season
– Juniors Course Time Ranks: 26th, 40th, and 30th. This was about in line with prior skiing.
– Juniors Shooting Percentages: 90%, 90%, and 70%. About in line with prior shooting

Mathieu Garcia (22)

– 2024-2025 was 4th season of racing. He raced at Jakuszyce on the Junior Cup. Previously raced seven Juniors races in 22-23 and two in 23-24.
– 2025 Junior Cup finishes: 13th and 19th
– Previous best career moments were 4th in one Junior Cup race in the 23-24 season
– Juniors Course Time Ranks: 46th and 34th
– Juniors Shooting Percentages: 100% and 85%