Lou Jeanmonnot missed her first standing shot, but hit the next five, sealing the 1:11:17.9 French victory in this afternoon’s season-opening Oestersund Women’s 4 X 6 km Relay. The winning foursome of Jeanmonnot, Jeanne Richard, Oceane Michelon, and Justine Braisaz-Bouchet used just eight spare rounds on a breezy day.

Victory, “the best way to get confidence”

Jeanmonnot was pleased to take the win, confirming that the summer training went well. “It is really difficult to start the season because you really do not know where you are or how the preparation went. Starting this way with a win is the best way to get confidence.”

“Lot of pressure”

As for her shooting, the French anchor added, “I felt a lot of pressure. My prone shooting was not so good the last months, so I was a bit afraid of it today. I was happy to do a clean shoot. Standing shooting was quite a mess; starting with a spare bullet is a good way to keep calm, the most important thing during shooting.”

Italy finished second, with a penalty and nine spares, 13.8 seconds back. Czechia, matched France with eight spares in third, 30.8 seconds back, marking a successful return to competition for anchor Marketa Davidova.

Sweden, after falling as far back as 18th rallied for fourth after a strong anchor by Hanna Oeberg, with two penalties and ten spares, 45.5 seconds back. Austria with a penalty and six spares finished fifth, 1:31.8 back. Finland had the best shooting of the day with a single spare, in sixth, 2:09.2 back.

First Season-opening Women’s Relay

Twenty-one teams lined up for the first competition of the 2025/26 BMW IBU World Cup, the first time in history that the Women’s Relay opened the season. With midday sun peeking through the clouds, the first leg was a typical shake-out, but after a spare in prone, Dorothea Wierer blew through standing. leaving the field behind, tagging Michela Carrara almost a dozen seconds ahead of Switzerland. Everyone battled the wind in the second leg using spares, with Czechia taking the lead over Austria by 2 seconds; favourites France and Germany trailed 4 and 6 seconds back.

Austria’s third leg, Anna Gandler took control with a fast clean prone stage, matched by Lisa Vittozzi who moved Italy up from sixth at the exchange to second, 13 seconds back followed by Czechia and France’s Braisaz-Bouchet. The French star cleaned standing slowly; her rivals used spares leaving just behind.

Three Consecutive Relay Wins

Braisaz-Bouchet tagged anchor Jeanmonnot .5 seconds up on the Italians, with Austria 3 seconds in arrears. Jeanmonnot buried her five prone targets, extending the lead to 24 and 34 seconds over Italy and Czechia, respectively. Despite using a spare, Jeanmonnot sealed victory with a careful standing stage, with Hannah Auchentaller holding second over Czechia’s Marketa Davidova.

Today’s victory gave France three consecutive Women’s Relay wins dating back to last season’s Lenzerheide IBU World Championships and Nove Mesto na Morave world Cup.

Photos: IBU/Per Danielsson, Christian Manzoni, Nordic Focus