Biathlon IBU Junior & Youth World Championships 2021

[OlympicsFan 860]

5 minutes ago, RobtheAggie said:

Claude looking really good.  Kaiser has done well.

Hard to imagine Claude not winning a medal. Too bad that Kaiser had that mistake during the first shooting, otherwise he only would have been 10 seconds behind Claude.

[OlympicsFan 860]

Does anyone know why France is so good in biathlon? From what I remember biathlon isn’t very popular over there and they don’t necessarily have a huge tradition in cross-country either. Do they have better training conditions than Germany for example?

[RobtheAggie 340]

Reithmuller with 3 misses, ouch.

[RobtheAggie 340]

1 minute ago, OlympicsFan said:

Does anyone know why France is so good in biathlon? From what I remember biathlon isn’t very popular over there and they don’t necessarily have a huge tradition in cross-country either. Do they have better training conditions than Germany for example?

For a long time, they were not good at all.  I think success breeds success.  Fourcade's long time on the top can only help those who come behind.  They also have a few great training areas.  That helps as well.   There is also a strong tradition of endurance sports in the country.

[Grassmarket 4,059]

10 minutes ago, OlympicsFan said:

Does anyone know why France is so good in biathlon? From what I remember biathlon isn’t very popular over there and they don’t necessarily have a huge tradition in cross-country either. Do they have better training conditions than Germany for example?

Precisely because they have so few good athletes. The ones they have they cherish & train properly.  Even as teenagers they know how to shoot.  
 

Because Germany & Russia have so many athletes, they don’t get individual attention - if they have a bad month they get relegated to IBU or back to National level.  If French athletes have a bad month, they stay in the WC all the same.

[Monzanator 4,776]

pushes off the podium

[OlympicsFan 860]

What an insanely unlucky result for Germany. Without that stupid mistake during that first shooting, Kaiser easily would have won silver. Still it is nice to see that Germany has 3 world class talents in this age group, only France and Italy are looking stronger. Out of all the guys here Perrot is probably the biggest talent.

[Werloc 3,191]

Well, happy that Romanov is slowly getting back into shape.

 

As for Fomin and Mačkinė, well, they know what they've done  

[SalamAkhi 338]

52 minutes ago, OlympicsFan said:

Does anyone know why France is so good in biathlon? From what I remember biathlon isn’t very popular over there and they don’t necessarily have a huge tradition in cross-country either. Do they have better training conditions than Germany for example?

Despite a somehow weak tradition in cross country, we have some regions almost entirely revolving around it (Vosges, Jura, some parts of the French Alps). Not a lot of people do pratice cross contry skiing, but those who do fare really well, and as Grassmarket said, the elite athletes policy is to do best with the few we have.

The national circuit is empty of over-25yo athletes, either you are good enough to join the national team, or you quit. 

 

Biathlon is really getting popular, as you could see last time Le Grand Bornand hosted the WC, thanks to free to air broadcasting and the great results of the NT. Mostly Tv coverage for France has had its share of great athletes since the 90's.

[RobtheAggie 340]

Hartweg and Fravi have the speed and talent to be successful moving forward.  

Congrats to Claude, Karlik and Pervushin.

 

US gets 2 in the Pursuit, and one missed by 1.5 seconds, but had 5 misses.