Lou Jeanmonnot delivered just as Marte Olsbu Roeiseland predicted, winning both the Sprint and Pursuit in Antholz-Anterselva. Her 180-point haul puts her close to Franziska Preuss, who secured her first-ever double podium in South Tyrol. Both athletes, excelling with near-flawless shooting, look like strong medal contenders for the IBU World Championships in Lenzerheide. Tarjei Boe and Sturla Holm Laegreid traded victories in Antholz, with the elder Boe announcing his retirement at the season's end. Laegreid now leads the Total Score standings with a 48-point advantage over Johannes Thingnes Boe.
Elvira Oeberg’s illness and subsequent absence in Antholz has opened even more room for Jeanne Richard, Selina Grotian, and Oceane Michelon - all U23 athletes - who now stand as fifth, sixth, and seventh in the Total Score.
Richard has also been the outstanding shooter of Trimester 2 as she has missed only six targets out of 100 for a 94% accuracy rating.
Tarjei Boe and Sturla Holm Laegreid alternated between first and second in the Sprint and Pursuit in Antholz with a very different outlook on their immediate future. A week after his brother Johannes Thingnes in Ruhpolding, Tarjei announced his retirement at the end of the season. Meanwhile on the tracks Laegreid took the lead in the Total Score after the Sprint and made a significant statement by winning the Pursuit with a sublime 20/20 shooting performance - and the best Pursuit-only time. He goes to Lenzerheide as the in-form athlete and will open the World Cup Week 7 in Nove Mesto in March with a 48-point advantage over Johannes.
Laegreid has shot better than any other competitor recently, missing just seven shots in Trimester 2 for an accuracy rating of 93%.
As for Johannes Thingnes, he showed minor cracks. He skied an unusually slow final lap in the Sprint - he clocked 37th skiing time, 28.9 seconds behind the fastest Tommaso Giacomel. And in the final meters of Pursuit, he let Jakov Fak take fifth place, dropping five points. Perhaps he couldn’t push. Maybe he let an old friend score the second flower podium in a week. It certainly wasn’t a damage control that Johannes used with such brilliance in the past seasons when the race didn’t go his way.
After a win in the Mass Start in Ruhpolding, Giacomel connected two third places in Antholz-Anterselva, becoming the first Italian male athlete with three consecutive podiums. He also moved into the Total Score Top 10 for the first time this winter.
Norwegian men simply can not find the combination nor the flow to dethrone France. French anchor Emilien Jacquelin keeps adding the fingers as he counts the number of consecutive wins crossing the finish line - it was four in Antholz-Anterselva.
As for the women’s Relay, highly-favoured France is yet to win a race in 2024/2/2025 despite a team packed with high flyers. Sweden and Germany have each won the Relay two times.
At the IBU Junior Open European Championships in Altenberg. Germany - in the absence of the best French and German junior women - Grzegorz Galica of Poland won in the Sprint and Mass Start 60 as the most successful individual. Galica also took part in the Mixed Relay, contributing another win medal for Poland as the nation with the most gold medals. France won seven medals - the most of all nations (but just one gold).
Photo: IBU/D. Yevenko, I. Koksarov, Nordic Focus