2025-2026 Annecy-le Grand Bornand Preview

Dates: December 18th – December 21st, 2025

Schedule:

– Thursday December 18: Women’s 7.5km Sprint
– Friday December 19: Men’s 10km Sprint
– Saturday December 20: Women’s 10km Pursuit + Men’s 12.5km Pursuit
– Sunday December 21: Women’s 12.5km Mass Start + Men’s 15km Mass Start

Course Overview:

– Stadium altitude: 928m
– Maximum altitude on course: 927m
– Lowest altitude on course: 923m
– Stadium capacity: 4000 spectators
– Course capacity: 15000 spectators

Annecy-le Grand Bornand is simply one of the most beautifully placed courses and stadiums. The view from the high portions of the course looking back on the town of Annecy is simply gorgeous. However, the location of Annecy actually puts it at a disadvantage with generally warmer conditions. In the past that has led to either rainy conditions or worse, the icy mess we saw a couple of years ago that had Johannes Thingnes Boe sliding around like a baby giraffe. Regardless though, this is just a beautiful venue!

Weather:

– Avg Temp for December: High 7C and Low -1C
– Rain/Snow about 10 days per month

There is some difference of opinion amongst the various weather services in terms of what the actual temperatures will be, but basically all have the high temps between 5-10C every day with the lows staying right at or just above freezing all week. The worst part is it looks like rain at least two if not three days. Long story short it could be a gross weekend in Annecy. The wax will be absolutely crucial. Thankfully they just got some practice with warm snow in Hochfilzen but it could make a huge difference today. And we all know how big of a difference skis can make in Annecy…

News and Notes

1) 🇫🇷 French Roster Turnover – As the World Cup heads to their home course the French team made a couple of big moves for their roster.

The women had 7 bibs to start the season thanks to Camille Bened’s IBU Cup Overall win last season. After Hochfilzen that extra bib is now gone. They also have Paula Botet absolutely tearing it up on the IBU Cup with four wins in the first six races. So big decisions had to be made. They decided to take 7 women to le Grand Bornand. Lou Jeanmonnot, Camille Bened, Oceane Michelon, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, Julia Simon, and Paula Botet (listed by Overall ranking) will start the Sprint/Pursuit. Jeanne Richard will travel with the team as well. If she is still in the top 25 of the Overall after the Pursuit race then she will take part in the Mass Start. She currently is in 17th and has a decent shot at holding on to her position. But nothing is certain until it is complete.

The men also made a change as Valentin Lejeune returns to the World Cup for his 2nd career race. He’s had a great start to the season on the IBU Cup as well with four podiums. Interestingly they are all 2nd place finishes. Emilien Claude, still working his way back from his September back surgery and illness in Östersund will be the odd man out. Oscar Lombardot will remain on the World Cup and Antonin Guigonnat on the IBU Cup.

2) 🇳🇴 Norway Changes – Norway will have a roster change as well. Vebjoern Soerum returned to the World Cup after his physical ailments at the test races in Geilo. He still looked like he’s not back to full strength so he will be the man out as the Norwegian men cut from seven roster spots to six. Due to Sivert Bakken’s illness last week, Isak Frey made a quick return to the World Cup without missing a race. With Bakken healthy again he will take part in the Sprint/Pursuit while Frey will be waiting to see if he can run in the Mass Start. Same rules apply to him as they do Richard. Frey is currently in 16th so a similar situation.

On the women’s side Aasne Skrede will get to make her delayed World Cup debut. She was selected for Hochfilzen but she could only watch from the sidelines after she fell ill before the races started.

3) World Cup Debuts – This week we get a couple of really special World Cup debuts!
– Jacques Jefferies will get to make his World Cup debut for his second home nation of Great Britain after making the change this offseason
– 🇨🇭 Coralie Langel will have the same experience! She changed to compete for her second home of Switzerland this offseason as well and she too gets her World Cup debut this week!
– 🇳🇴 Aasne Skrede was set to make her World Cup debut last week in Hochfilzen, but it was delayed 1 week due to illness. But she’s ready now!

4) Returns! – There are several athletes returning to the World Cup after either a week down on the IBU Cup or an illness. They include:
– 🇩🇪 Franziska Preuss
– 🇫🇮 Otto Invenius making his season debut after suffering from mononucleosis this fall
– Margie Freed
– 🇸🇮 Anamarija Lampic

3) Odds and Ends – The are a few athletes who for one reason or another will not be taking part in Annecy-le Grand Bornand
– 🇨🇭 Nik Hartweg has had multiple illnesses already this season. He’s at home prepping for the 2nd trimester and the Olympics
– 🇸🇰 Anastasiya Kuzmina, after an exceptional 3rd leg in the Hochfilzen relay, is racing on the IBU Cup in Lenzerheide this weekend. Not entirely sure why that decision was made?
– 🇸🇮 Jakov Fak has been suffering from knee pain making skiing, and particularly getting down to prone shooting very difficult this season. He’s calling an early end to his first trimester for recovery.

Recent History

Men’s Multiple Podium Finishers Last 4 Competitions (goes back to 2019-2020 season)
– Does not include retired or athletes currently on the IBU Cup

Athlete	Finishes
Quentin Fillon Maillet 🇫🇷	🥇🥈🥉, 4, 4, 4
Sturla Holm Lægreid 🇳🇴	🥇🥈🥈, 4, 5, 5
Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen 🇳🇴	🥈🥉, 4, 5, 5
Emilien Jacquelin 🇫🇷	🥇🥈🥉
Martin Uldal 🇳🇴	🥇, 5
Sebastian Samuelsson 🇸🇪	🥉, 5
Fabien Claude 🇫🇷	4, 4
Johannes Dale-Skjevdal 🇳🇴	🥇
Eric Perrot 🇫🇷	🥈
Danilo Riethmüller 🇩🇪	🥈
Philipp Horn 🇩🇪	4
Vebjørn Sørum 🇳🇴	4
Martin Ponsiluoma 🇸🇪	4

Women’s Multiple Podium Finishers Last 5 Competitions (goes back to 2019-2020 season)
– Does not include retired or athletes currently on the IBU Cup.

Athlete	Finishes
Elvira Öberg 🇸🇪	🥇🥇🥇🥉, 4
Julia Simon 🇫🇷	🥈🥈🥈🥈🥉
Dorothea Wierer 🇮🇹	🥈, 4, 4, 5
Franziska Preuß 🇩🇪	🥇🥇🥈
Justine Braisaz-Bouchet 🇫🇷	🥇🥈, 5
Lisa Theresa Hauser 🇦🇹	🥇, 4
Selina Grotian 🇩🇪	🥇, 5
Linn Gestblom 🇸🇪	🥈🥉
Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold 🇳🇴	🥈, 4
Lisa Vittozzi 🇮🇹	🥈, 5
Jeanne Richard 🇫🇷	4, 4
Anna Magnusson 🇸🇪	🥇
Hanna Öberg 🇸🇪	🥈
Marketa Davidova 🇨🇿	🥉
Lena Häcki-Groß 🇨🇭	🥉
Anamarija Lampic 🇸🇮	🥉
Vanessa Voigt 🇩🇪	🥉
Paulina Batovska-Fialkova 🇸🇰	🥉
Maren Kirkeeide 🇳🇴	5
Suvi Minkkinen 🇫🇮	5
Jessica Jislova 🇨🇿	5

Recent Memorable Moments/Performances

Maybe we don’t get to see the World Cup in Annecy every season, but it is already a very memorable locale. I had to make a sure effort not to put every single race on here!

December 2024 Women’s Races: This was the moment where I think the biathlon family as a whole first started to believe that Franziska Preuss could actually contend for the Overall title. The first couple of weeks were fun, but we always wondered how good could she be? Could she avoid illness? Could she keep this up? She arrived in Annecy-le Grand Bornand and answered all of the questions. She finished 2nd in the Sprint and then won the 2nd race of her season in the Pursuit. She finished off the season finishing 2nd to her teammate Selina Grotian who had her maiden victory in a thick heavy snowfall. It wasn’t just that she piled up the points with such great finishes and that she extended her lead in the Overall, it was how she did it. It was announced early in the week that there was a virus in the German women’s team and Preuss had some symptoms. No matter, she went out and kicked ass. There was still a long way to go, and many many tense moments, but this was the moment it started to feel real that she could be there in Oslo holding the Overall Globe.

December 2024 Men’s Races:

December 2022: The races of December 2022 are distinctly memorable to me for what a disaster the course was. It was very warm during the day on Friday, but then a hard freeze came in over night. As a result the course was incredibly icy for the Pursuits on Saturday. Pretty much anybody with Fischer skis couldn’t get any traction. We saw JT Boe slip and fall multiple times throughout the race. At times he looked like Bambi!

Thankfully they got the course back together for the Mass Start on Sunday which saw Johannes Dale-Skjevdal win an emotional race. Remember, in 2021, even as the defending 2020 5th place Overall, he was sent down to the IBU Cup after two weeks. He fought his way back in 2022 to rejoin the World Cup. When he won the Mass Start in Annecy he was so emotional and it was absolutely wonderful to see!

The women’s Sprint this weekend was the memorable recent Annecy race for me. I think I wanted each of the women at the top to win the race. It was ultimately won by Anna Magnusson with Linn Gestblom coming in 2nd. I was going to be ecstatic for either of those women to win the race! However, the woman I think we all remember from that race is actually Sophie Chauveau, who broke through for the first time on the World Cup to finish 4th, just four seconds off the podium. The celebration for her that day was phenomenal!

December 2021: The weekend was a celebration of what was turning into a very strong season for the French men. Quentin Fillon Maillet and Emilien Jacquelin both won a race and they went 1-2 in the Mass Start. By winning the Mass Start Jacquelin won himself the Yellow bib at the end of the 1st trimester of the 2021-2022 season. Ultimately QFM would take it back in Germany and then run away with the Overall title late in the season, but for this moment in time it was Jacquelin stealing it away from QFM. The whole weekend was summed up by Tarjei Boe celebrating the two French strong men by waving the French tricolor as the fans roared their approval.

December 2021: That same weekend as noted above, it was the dawn of a new era on the women’s World Cup. Elvira Oeberg, long an enticing talent, broke through in the 52nd race of her career for her first victory. She started from bib 3, 16 seconds back of Sprint winner Marte Olsbu Roeiseland. After Roeiseland had some early misses, Elvira moved to the front by the halfway point of the race. Even with a huge push from Julia Simon, no surprise there, Elvira was able to hang on for the first win of her career.

Not wanting to wait another 52 races for her next win, Elvira came out the next day and once again went head to head with Julia Simon. Once again Elvira came out on top. Both had two misses, but Elvira missed early and hit all 10 of her standing shots to pull away late. Since then Elvira has added seven more wins including the Mass Start this season on Kontiolahti!