After the Oestersund opener, the early-season hierarchy toward Antholz–Anterselva and the Olympic Winter Games Milano-Cortina 2026 is beginning to take shape. New names rose, favourites struggled, and the season launched with unusual unpredictability. In this shake-up, Biathlonworld.com introduces the Antholz Power Rankings — a data-driven look at emerging Olympic contenders based on recent performance, altitude ability, and big-event experience. With such dynamic early racing, major shifts are expected in the weeks ahead, especially from yellow-bib leader Johan Olav Botn.

Jeanmonnot leads, but should keep alert

The women’s Antholz Power Rankings open with a surprising picture: no podiums for Lou Jeanmonnot in Oestersund, yet the French athlete tops the list thanks to her consistently strong underlying metrics across recent form, altitude ability, and major-event performance. Franziska Preuss follows closely in second despite battling injury and illness, underscoring how powerful her big-event and altitude résumé remains when the model balances long-term reliability against short-term turbulence. Behind them, the Swedes and Italians are tightly bunched: Elvira Oeberg (3rd) and Lisa Vittozzi (4th) sit virtually neck-and-neck after stable—but not spectacular—opening races. As for Vittozzi, who sat out last season due to the back injury, we have combined this winter’s results with her strong finish to the Total Score-winning 2023/2024 season. The story of the week, however, is Suvi Minkkinen: the Finnish athlete leaves Oestersund wearing the yellow bib, riding the momentum of her breakthrough World Cup win, and securing fifth place in the Power Rankings with room to climb as more “recent results” weight enters the model.

Strong openers from Océane Michelon (a podium in the Sprint) and the Pursuit winner Lisa Theresa Hauser keep France and Austria well represented, while Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Hanna oeberg remain in the mix despite uneven starts. The Individual winner Dorothea Wierer—12th in the Power Rankings—stays within striking distance.

The big unknown, of course, is Camille Bened, currently 3rd in the Total Score and in a phenomenal shooting form.

Sturla atop the Power Rankings, but . . .

On the men’s side, the Power Rankings paint a very different—but equally fascinating—picture. Sturla Holm Laegreid leads the list without a single victory in Oestersund, his position built on exceptional major-event consistency and historically strong altitude results rather than short-term fireworks. The Pursuit winner Quentin Fillon Maillet (2nd) and Eric Perrot (3rd) anchor a strong French presence, both benefiting from good early-season form and robust past performance profiles. Sebastian Samuelsson (4th) and Martin Uldal (6th) collected two podiums each while Tommaso Giacomel (5th), showed solid early-season stability. Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen Jakov Fak, Campbell Wright, and Emilien Jacquelin round out a diverse Top 10.

But the athlete reshaping the narrative is undeniably Johan Olav Botn: in his first full World Cup opening week, he delivered two victories (Individual and Sprint) and a third place in the Pursuit — yet he does not appear in the rankings because he lacks the multi-season altitude and championship data required for Power Score calculation.