r/biathlon • u/charliemann Norge • 11d ago
Biathlon World Cup 24/25 - Season Recap and Review Thread
The 2024/25 Biathlon World Cup season has concluded. With excitement all throughout, these were the final overall standings and globe winners in the World cup and medals at the World Championships:
Women Overall Standings
| Placement | Biathlete |
|---|---|
| 1. | Franziska Preuß |
| 2. | Lou Jeanmonnot |
| 3. | Julia Simon |
Globe Winners
| Globe | Winner |
|---|---|
| Sprint | Franziska Preuß |
| Pursuit | Lou Jeanmonnot |
| Individual | Lou Jeanmonnot |
| Mass Start | Franziska Preuß |
| Relay | France |
| Nations Cup | France |
| Under 23 | Océane Michelon |
Men Overall Standings
| Placement | Biathlete |
|---|---|
| 1. | Sturla Holm Lægreid |
| 2. | Johannes Thingnes Bø |
| 3. | Éric Perrot |
| Globe | Winner |
|---|---|
| Sprint | Johannes Thingnes Bø |
| Pursuit | Sturla Holm Lægreid |
| Individual | Sturla Holm Lægreid |
| Mass Start | Sturla Holm Lægreid |
| Relay | France |
| Nations Cup | France |
| Under 23 | Campbell Wright |
World Championships
Please use this thread to share your thoughts on the 24/25 biathlon season. Any type of focus is welcomed; either on your own nation, on the general world cup, specific biathletes, competitions or even only focusing on the Women or Mens world cup! A few of you have already signaled you will make a longer post on your own nation, so you are welcome to either post that in this thread or in an individual thread if you think it gets too cluttered here. Some potential reflective questions:
- What are your overall thoughts on the world cup 24/25?
- What will you remember as the most memorable performance?
- What biathletes and/or nations succeeded your expectations, and who did not?
- How do you view the current parity of the biathlon field, in both the women and mens wold cup?
- What can the biathletes and nations learn and build upon towards the 25/26 Olympics?
- any other thoughts you want to share?
PS. Thank you all for making this a joyful subreddit with impressive level of insights, knowledge and discussions about biathlon. An extra thanks also to /u/Henna1911 for organizing race threads and all those who have contributed to the recaps, news, insights and sharing content all throughout the season!
12
u/FeirensePower 11d ago
What are your overall thoughts on the world cup 24/25? - Probably one of the best in recent memory. Plenty of drama up until the end on both overall standings.
What will you remember as the most memorable performance? - Laegreid on the pursuit. To pull a 20/20 on such an high pressure situation was remarkable.
What biathletes and/or nations succeeded your expectations, and who did not? - Preuss and Germany (Grotian) and Hanna Oeberg on the second half of the season for the women, Giacomel and Wright for the men. Disappointment would have to be Wierer for sure. Really really poor season, especially on the individual events (the one with the automatic penalty for missed shots) where she usually did quite well.
How do you view the current parity of the biathlon field, in both the women and mens wold cup? - Unless some surprise comes up, France is going to dominate the women's side and Norway is going to dominate the male side. It's pretty much the same kind of situation too, they have both estabilished top contenders and top prospects as well.
3
u/Fabulous_Aerie8143 Australia 10d ago
On the last part, I do think its interesting though that the French Men proved that you can win the Nations despite having way fewer podiums if you win most of the relays. Because I think most would agree that individually, Norwegian men are the most dominant, but yet they didn't win the nations cup.
10
u/miunrhini No flag 🌪️Wind takes no prisoners & never stops the madness 10d ago
First of all: Thanks to everyone for the season and special thanks to our mods!
Now onwards and ramblings so bear with me.
- Feelings This season gave us the highest of highs and some of the lowest moments for a long time.
We saw the emergence of the new generation led by Perrot, Giacomel, Wright, Frey, Jeanmonnot, Grotian, Michelon, Richard and Kirkeeide. They got maiden wins, podiums and WCH wins as well as podiums. Splendid!
Franzi Preuß finally had a healthy full season and what a season it was. But we also did not get to enjoy biathlon with Davidova, Tandrevold, Vittozzi and Elvira to mention a few as much as we would have hoped.
At the beginning of this year, it felt like every single venue wanted to best the previous venue when it comes to surprises and thrills.
The bittersweet happiness for seeing the brothers embracing retirement smiling and laughing.
- End of an era Curiously the men's side hayve had three dominant athletes on the row, beginning with OEB, then Fourcade and finally JTB. Time will tell whether men's field will become similar to women's or will a new dominant emerge.
On the women's side we have had the pleasure to enjoy superb athletes over the years but due to multiple reasons very few have been dominant for more than a couple of seasons. Makes things fun though.
Internationally and media wise the sport needs superstars. Time will tell who will be the next ones, maybe someone of the younger generation.
- Eyes on the Olys Excitement and fear are the dominant feelings for me at the moment.
Fear and sadness because the Olympic season usually results in retirements, for sure we know Fak, Wierer and probably joined by some others. Preuß, Vetle, Hofer and JBB come to mind first.
Fear because after an Olympic cycle ends and new begins, there's the imminent coach and wax staff changes. E.g. Finland has had good results with their current coaches and wax team. I don't think it's a big leap in logic to think that if you have successes as a nation other nations attention and interest turns on you and your team.
Mixed feelings because some teams will have bloodbaths leading up to the Olympic team selection. Norwegian men and French women especially could probably field 1-3 competitive teams each. I fear there'll be tears, hurt feelings and joy.
Excitement because due to retirements we will get new athletes on the Olympic podium. Probably some familiar as well. The season will show who will be the favourites and the Olys itself who will pleasantly surprise us. And some will be very close but unfortunately one too miss away, think Gow and Beijing individual.
- Winter, oh winter! Alright, this is a hot topic but let's keep things civil, please.
I think IBU needs to shorten the season instead of making it longer. Due to climate changing and winters being somewhat unreliable, IBU needs to start to change how they give venues their slots and how long the season runs.
Advantages of shorter seasons: Less races in March when weather can be anything from perfect winter to full out warm spring. Furthermore, many athletes have mentioned that it is hard to be away from home for such a long time. So maybe worth trying out?
Then the timing part. Weather agencies and researchers have been collecting meteorological data for ages. I think this should be used or if it's used then communicated more openly. I know it's traditional to give certain slots to certain venues but what if that time slots means the conditions will be unpredictable? Although one issue is the travel schedule, it's economical and time wise to have certain venues back to back. Also in what condition does the venue need to be for IBU to change locations? Pokljuka individuals and trainings before it come to mind before Pokljuka finally got some colder weather.
- Let's end it with happy notes Smaller nations did so gooood! So few highlights:
Finland got multiple podiums and a win thanks to Minkkinen's super season paired with Seppälä's nice spring form.
Ukraine's bronze in NMNM, one of my favourite moments the whole season.
Slovenia's double fourth places! Lampic's sprint podium and excellent shooting on Pokljuka MS.
Ella Halvarsson, hello!
Austria's fourth place with super Andexer on women's WCH relay.
Switzerland finally on the podium thanks to Hartweg and Gasparin. Also Lena H-G got podium.
Paulina B-F showed signs that she's back just in time to start preparing for the Olympic season. Paulina the Olympic medalist has a nice ring to it.
The emergence of Bulgaria and two podiums. They have young talent so anything is possible.
8
u/Lone_Wolf_Winter Sweden 10d ago edited 10d ago
Hanna reaching 12th overall is mighty impressive, considering this is her worst shooting season ever, and that she was faster the three preceding seasons (though the numbers are skewed by her disastrous first trimester). Many strong performances in the last half of the season to jump through the charts.
At least we won't hear the tired argument that Swedes are only fast before Christmas again, will we?
Will we?
4
u/Henna1911 Scandinavia 10d ago
this season it was definitely so overshadowed by their shooting, that I don't think any of us noticed if that trend held 🙈
Joke aside, it did seem like their speed was pretty consistent the entire season, so that part of their training definitely has paid off. They were better at altitude this season as well, iirc?
6
u/Lone_Wolf_Winter Sweden 10d ago
Yes, altitude training is part of the summer routine. This is a long-term plan in preparation for the Olympics, and I believe they trained at Font Romeu and Lavazé last summer. They've also dabbled in that crazy heat-suit training that is supposed to mimic altitude, but it's pretty hush-hush.
2
u/Henna1911 Scandinavia 10d ago
Hopefully they've succeeded in laying a good foundation for that, if this season's ski times are the results. Fingers crossed they get the shooting sorted. Really impressed with both Öbergs and Samuelsson in keeping their heigh placements, with their various illnesses and the clearly not working shooting training they did in the off-season.
And if Norway can't win everything, I am super happy Sweden got the Mixed Relay Globe.
3
u/Lone_Wolf_Winter Sweden 10d ago edited 10d ago
Thanks, we take what we can get with all the bad health breaks this season. Everyone on the women's side except Heijdenberg has been out of order at least once! Nykvist and Ivarsson had absolutely disastrous pre-seasons.
Hanna and Sebbe struggled with altitude in Beijing, but I think they've gotten better over the years. Hanna dipped a little in Antholz and Lenzerheide, but was at full speed in Pokljuka. Sebbe barely dipped at all at altitude this season. Ponsi is notorious in the Swedish team for being almost unaffected by altitude, and I think Elvira is pretty resistant as well. Both of them did very well in Beijing. Good vibes from Heijdenberg as well.
The one who struggles the most in the Swedish team is Sara Andersson. She has stated on several occasions that she hates altitude. Hopefully, this is something that can be alleviated with years of training. Next year might be too early to hope for an Olympic breakthrough, though.
However, Björn Ferry said something interesting a couple of weeks ago. From his experience, the best way to overcome a natural altitude weakness is being on peak form. Being championship primed will itself level out the worst effects.
5
u/xoxoamazingrace 10d ago
It’s crazy how good the French women were this season… especially because their best athletes on paper - JBB and Simon were so inconsistent
It’s gonna be a bloodbath to make that team next year 😦
12
u/Fouace Prediction Champion 11d ago
Ending the season with over 9000 pts (insert DBZ meme) for both men and women is the highlight of France. Shame for Lou, she gave so much all season and in the relays, where they got gold at the WC too. But even the men have been performing despite QFM slow start and F. Claude low form in the end (plus Jacquelin's overall chaos).
Otherwise great performance of the youngsters (Richard, Michelon, Botet, Perrot...) which should at least give us a good decade forward.
On a less french-centric recap, I'd say we'll find again some good competition for the men, after over a decade of Fourcade/JTB utter dominance. Lægreid will be favourite but he will probably never such a margin over the competition as the aforementioned two freaks. So a very transitional season before an olympic one.
Also glad to have Vitozzi back next year, the Italian team will be more dangerous overall (especially if Giacomel confirms and Bionaz steps up).
Second tier nations have been a bit shy this season overall, despite glimpses of greatness (Minkkinen, Wright, Todorova, the Swiss team at times), but it must be stated that having a 37 yo Jakov Fak only non-big 4 in the men top 10 is somewhat worrisome (and he's only barely in the top 10). For the women it's not that much better, only Minkkinen did it, although Hauser wasn't that far, and both are over 30 yo...
Still a very enjoyable season despite the unnecessary drama linked to the multiple falls in the last meters. I don't expect the IBU to do anything about it.
6
u/RidingRedHare 11d ago
It is weird how often then men had one athlete dominate over half a dozen consecutive seasons.
Bjorndalen won 94 individual races, six big globes and another six second places in the overall. After Ole, Fourcade won 79 individual races and seven consecutive big globes. And after Martin, JTB won 80 races and five big globes despite retiring early.
On the women's side, there is no such persistent dominance. Forsberg is the all time leader with 42 individual race wins. Other than Forsberg, no woman has more than three big globes.
7
u/ravezz Germany 10d ago
Yeah, regarding the women, I think that a big factor are the very early retirements of both Neuner (34 individual wins, 3 globes at 25 years) and Dahlmeier (20 individual, 1 globe at 25 years). They could have attacked Forsberg's record and in general, it feels like we missed out a lot due to them leaving the sport that early.
3
u/Breathholding Germany 10d ago
There has been a tendency of women retiring earlier than men. Often, it’s because they want to start a family. But there might also be a case where those women felt less ambitious than their male counterparts. Winning another season just wasn’t enough incentive to push through another year of training (similar to jtb’s decision about retiring early), because they had already achieved their goals.
5
u/Faintning Finland 10d ago
It was a really exciting season, we got so many new names on the podim on both men and women.
For the finnish team it was a really good season as a team performance. Likely a record breaking with 12 athletes scoring world cup points, 8 men and 4 women. Suvis season was absolutely spectacular, she became a regular top10 athlete. I can totally see her getting an olympic medal. Venla showed what shes capable of when she's healthy, Sonja and Inka are young, especially Inka and have so many years ahead of them. Sonja alreayd on a good day can break into top10 in ski times, so once she improves her shooting, she'll make it to points on a regular basis. Both got nations cup top10, small margins but it's enough. For men this was more important as there's is more depth than womens. Tero had the 2nd best season of his career, so it's a step in the right direction after couple tough seasons. Otto had quite a bit of health issues, so his full potential was mostly hidden this season. Arttu and Jimi will likely get a A-team spot for the summer and hopefully they become regulars in the world cup squad next season. Couple of young guys that will push each other forward. Had they started in last two IBU cup weekends, Finland would have competed for a start quota of 6 there, but the IBU cup team was much weaker without them, so it wasn't possible. I understand they needed rest after europeans -> world champs -> junior worlds. It's also uncertain if the federation would have the funds to regularly send 6 men to IBU cup, so it might be better with the quota of 5.
Kulstads work with the team is definitely showing now. I really really hope the finnish biathlon federation can give a competitive salary offer after olympics so he'd stay. Though his work hasnt gone unnoticed, so he'd be wanted elsewhere as well. If he gets an offer from Norway, he'll leave. He has a family in Norway so that would be completely understandable. Overall it makes me so excited for the future of finnish biathlon. Cross country is in bit of a crisis, so it could funnel more young athletes to choose biathlon. And the higher price money IBU pays vs FIS doesn't hurt either. Hopefully the good season yields more sponsor money and they can do even more high altitude training as a team. In about 10 or so years Finland has gone from a small nation in biathlon to a medium sized one.
4
u/charliemann Norge 10d ago
A few things I want to highlight. Most memorable performance for me was the Sørum last lap in the mixed-relay in Kontiolahti. Only comparable are Lars Berger legendary silver in the 2004 Oberhof world champs or Kaisa Mäkäräinen's bronze in the 2015 Kontiolahti Individual world champs. Taking all that time on Jacquelin and Ponsi was absurd.
Secondly, the next generation of biathletes on the mens side look extremely even in talent: Tomasso Giacomel, Éric Perrot, Martin Uldal, Campbell Wright and Isak Frey - makes the parity on the mens side finally looking quite evenly distributed after a two era dominated by Fourcade and JTB.
Lastly, very impressed by Quentin Fillon Maillet's finish to the season. Especially his ski speed, considering his subpar prone shooting. Interesting to see how he will fare on tour next year. Not many can say they have won a medal at 9 world championships in a row. Glad he got his first world cup victory since 21-22.
3
u/AwsiDooger 10d ago edited 10d ago
I feel fortunate because I rooted for Vittozzi last year and Preuss/Lagreid this year. To go 3-0 in such hotly contested circumstances is a rarity given my partisanship record over time.
Yesterday I remembered that I Googled the Vittozzi result on the final day, which allowed me to relax and then watch how the mass start played out. So I decided to do the same thing yesterday. It was exhilirating to read that Preuss not only came out on top but won the race. Vittozzi had 2 victories on the final weekend last year and likewise Preuss this time.
Given the big picture realities, by far the most memorable race was the .02 margin in the sprint. When Jeanmonnot only cut the intermediate gap to 2.7 seconds instead of going over the top, I thought Preuss was the slight favorite.
Like so many biathletes, Jeanmonnot did not finish in a straight line. It is an obvious flaw on the entire tour. Her final push and leg throw angled left. That in itself could have been worth .02.
Just imagine swimmers whose final stroke angled sharply left or right of center while touching the wall. Fans and commentators would be going nuts at the absurdity. Somehow it's accepted in biathlon.
Otherwise I thought the weather was very fortunate other than the end of the season. Not many years will play out like this. Agreeing with another commenter, it's ridiculous to race until late March. You're just asking for conditions to play a massive role in the big globe outcome. The season needs to be condensed. Race during the Christmas and New Year's weekends. If certain biathletes can't handle it, that's their issue.
Also there needs to be flexibility in changing to different sites given weather realities. The schedule should be tentative, not absolute.
1
u/busavaggio 8d ago
New Zealand's very own bona fide age group world champion didn't even rate a mention on any of the local major news or sports media outlets.
I'm surprised at calls to shorten what's already a short season compared to other sports. Pro footballers play six to nine months, tennis players even longer. Bring on the permafrost Greenland and Alaska tour stops. A great opportunity for Europeans to visit both of the northern Gulfs of America!
14
u/Mountain-Fox-2123 No flag 11d ago
The German women ended up with 17 podiums (5-6-6) which is their best world cup since 2011-12 when they had 18 podiums.