What does this first individual victory in the World Cup represent?Lou Jeanmonnot: It means that I worked hard this summer, and that the season promises to be good. The sprint is still the basic race, so if I manage to win a sprint, that means that I am capable of winning all types of races. It’s very cool. This is the result of many, many years of work. During the race, at the start of the last lap, I was really worried because I wasn’t very well (physically), I had put a lot into the first lap, and I didn’t think I would be able to finish as expected. . Finally, when I saw at the intermediate (times) that things weren’t moving compared to the Norwegian (Knotten, ultimately 2nd), that reassured me a little and my skiing loosened up a little. I’m not saying that I had fun, but I managed to pull myself together, to do something technically cleaner.
How did you experience waiting for the final result? It was very long… Usually, I go straight to my “recovery”. There, I was too stressed, I know I couldn’t have done a “recovery” without looking at the phone every half a second, so I stayed warm, and I waited in front of the race data, it’s faster than on TV. I am very happy to enter this circle (of French biathletes who won the World Cup). Now all we have to do is increase the number of victories!
How will you approach Sunday’s pursuit? And the next sprint in a week, distinctive red bib on my back? I don’t know at all, I think I’m going to be very, very, very stressed. And the bib, that’s going to stress me out too! There you go, we will learn to manage stress.