Le Grand Bornand 2024 – The card. The first quarter of racing ends in France

Thursday 19th December 2024 02:44 AM

The Biathlon World Cup is ready to greet the calendar year 2024 with the return of competitions in Annecy-Le Grand Bornand. The first quarter of races certainly represented a demanding challenge for the Italian national team, which also and above all due to the prolonged absence of the holder of the crystal ball Lisa Vittozzi is still looking for the first podium of the season. It will still be up to Tommaso Giacomel and Dorothea Wierer in particular to try to achieve this objective, which especially for the South Tyrolean represents a last call not to end an entire year of competitions without placing in the top three, something that has never happened to her in the last 11 years.

Let’s briefly discover the stage of Le Grand Bornand.

Place

Le Grand Bornand is located at the foot of the Chaîne des Aravis, on the east side, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Only about seventy kilometers away from the slopes of Mont Blanc, the place is perfectly immersed in the very popular tourist macro area that ranges between Italy, Switzerland and France, ready to offer endless possibilities for mountain lovers both in summer and winter . The largest city from which it is possible to reach the location of the third stage of the Cup is Geneva, from which it is possible to get off in just under an hour’s journey. The Sylvie Becaert stadium it is equipped with a cross-country skiing track and a cutting-edge shooting range but the peculiarity that has made it popular is the enthusiastic support of the public, with the stands and the areas surrounding the track constantly filling up with frenzied spectators who create an electrifying atmosphere for the competing athletes. The proximity to the course allows fans to experience the action up close, creating a unique bond between athletes and fans. We also compete at altitude, the stadium area is located around 1000 meters above sea level (third in the rankings for this season) and this represents a further challenge due to the fatigue of the competitions.

History

The French resort is one of the most recent to enter the calendar of the maximum IBU circuit. In fact, it will only take place in Le Grand Bornand for the sixth time ever, and since its debut in 2013 the same location has always been maintained, i.e. that of the pre-Christmas December stage. Another peculiarity of the schedule is that, precisely because of its positioning, it has always been an event where three consecutive individual competitions have been held, with the only exception being 2013 when the only relays in the history of this location took place, and curiously, both were won by Germany. In total, the total number of individual races completed is therefore only 14 per gender.

Numbers

Less tradition naturally also equates to a certainly smaller and therefore less relevant sample of statistical data. However, it cannot fail to be noted that Norway won 10 of the 14 individual men’s events played at Le Grand Bornand, and eight of these were signed by Johannes Thingnes Bø. No other athlete has ever managed to reach two levels, and this further testifies to the absolute dominance of the Scandinavian legend on these snows. In the women’s competition, however, the battle is certainly closer, with an ex-aequo record of successes for Sweden and Norway, led by the champions Elvira Öberg and Tiril Eckhoff, both hoisted at three. It is therefore impossible not to give all the favors for the weekend prediction to Kiruna’s 1999 class, also considering the form shown on narrow skis in these first events.

The haul of weighty results brought home by the Italian team in France is certainly very small. Italy has never won and only managed to reach the podium on three occasions, thanks to the two queens Lisa Vittozzi (both in the pursuit format, 2017 and 2022) and Dorothea Wierer (mass start 2019). At the men’s level we can count a handful of top tens, among which it is worth remembering the super performance of a very young Giacomel two winters ago, once again in pursuit, always precious and fertile ground for our colours.

Track

The Le Grand Bornand route begins with a short descent, followed by a long uphill section with several challenging climbs that slowly lead to the upper part of the circuit, from which the biathletes will begin the long descent towards the shooting range area. Before reaching the shooting ranges, however, they will have to overcome a rigid final slope, the efforts of which are often carried until the moment of truth, as there is very little space to recover energy. To make a friendly comparison, our Anterselva has an equally significant difference in altitude but in general the climbs are more gradual than those of Le Grand-Bornand. It is therefore certainly one of the most challenging stages of the calendar overall, thanks to the combination of steep climbs, technical descents and a higher general difference in altitude compared to other locations.

Plan

CAs anticipated, the weekend program also this year offers a nice succession of individual tests. It will start tomorrow, Thursday, with the men’s sprint, which will be followed the following day by the same event for the women. Saturday will be the turn of the two chases and Sunday is reserved for the great closing show with the mass starts that will decide who will be able to enjoy a few well-deserved days of celebration with a smile and who, on the contrary, will have to try to regain their lost condition. In terms of timetable, all the tests are scheduled in the early afternoon, a sort of middle ground between the “advances” of Hochfilzen and the “postponements” of Kontiolahti.