The ski federation presented the composition of the French Biathlon teams with two groups (A and B) in women and men.
The 2025-2026 season of French biathletes promises to be rich. In addition to the World Cup, the preparation of the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games (February 8-21, 2026) will be the main objective. This is why the French Ski Federation has just announced this Tuesday, April 29, 2025, the composition of the women’s female and male teams.
Each time, two groups (A and B) are presented and the first changes are as follows: Antonin Guigonnat and Émilien Claude integrate group A among men, while Sophie Chauveau and Gilonne Guigonnat are relegated to group B among women.
Harsh competition and choices that are difficult to make
“For the first time, we have girls with status A (Paula Botet and Sophie Chauveau) who will be in group B” explained the director of French teams Stéphane Bouthiaux. Indeed, the choices within the Federation were not simple. Due to their decreased performance over the 2024-2025 season, Guigonnat and Chauveau are relegated and join Paula Botet, Camille Bened, Anaëlle Bondoux, Célia Henaff, Voldiya Galmace-Paulin and Amandine Mengin.
For the moment, five places are insured in group A for the World Cup with the presence of Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, Lou Jeanmonnot, Océane Michelon, Jeanne Richard and Julia Simon. The five tricolor biathletes will be trained by Cyril Burdet and the duo Jean-Paul Giachino and Patrick Favre in shooting.
Regarding men, group A will be made up of seven biathletes including Quentin Fillon-Maillet, Émilien Jacquelin, Éric Perrot, Fabien Claude, Oscar Lombardot. Émilien Claude and Antonin Guigonnat, who had left the group this winter join their teammates.
Simon Fourcade and Jean-Pierre Amat (for shooting) will be the coaches. Group B is composed of Martin Botet, Axel Garnier, Edgar Geny, Théo Guiraud-Poillot, Corentin Jacob, Valentin Lejeune, Damien Levet and Gaëtan Paturel. He will be trained by Louis Deschamps and Bastien Moretti (for shooting).
