Elvira Öberg’s flawless weekend in Oberhof led her to claim her first two victories of the 2025/26 Biathlon World Cup season, with Lou Jeanmonnot still on top of the overall standings despite a far-from-ideal weekend. All Things Snow tells you all you need to know about the fourth event of women’s biathlon this season.

By Daniele Spadi

The 2025/26 Biathlon World Cup season didn’t start the way Elvira Öberg wanted. In the first eight individual races, she partook in the flower ceremony only twice, and came into Oberhof with no top three finishes to her name. Moreover, she had only scored one career podium in Oberhof, despite the German course’s impressive difficulty that should put top skiers like her on the front foot.

However, the 26-year-old was on a mission from the very beginning of the weekend. In the sprint – which was moved up to Thursday due to the adverse weather conditions on Friday – Elvira opted to pace herself in the first two loops. Once she cleared all ten targets, she showcased all her skiing prowess to take a dominant victory with a 21-second gap over the rest of the field.

Behind her, Suvi Minkkinen continued her extraordinary run of form with her fourth individual podium of the season, as she finished in second with yet another flawless shooting performance. A familiar face then stormed to third, as Julia Simon conquered the last spot on the podium. The 10-time world champion, who received a one-month suspension that led her to miss the opening event of the season in Ostersund, has slowly begun building up her form, and two clean shoots were enough for her to claim her maiden top three finish of the season.

Fourth was overall cup hopeful Maren Kirkeeide, while the reigning overall champion Franziska Preuss was back in the flower ceremony thanks to an impressive fifth-place finish. She did so together with her teammate Janina Hettich-Waltz, who finished sixth, with both Germans missing one target.

Lou Jeanmonnot had to settle for seventh in the sprint. Wearing the yellow bib after her phenomenal home weekend in Annecy, the Frenchwoman failed to repeat her impressive performances from two weeks ago, and finished 54 seconds behind the leader.

On Sunday, the pursuit once again rewarded Öberg’s mature approach. The Swede, knowing of her comfortable lead, refrained from going all out on the tough German course; instead, she focused on knocking down all 20 targets. She only faltered once, which was enough for her to sprint to the finish untroubled.

This marks Öberg’s 12th World Cup victory, as she does the double between sprint and pursuit for only the second time in her career after she did so in Pokljuka back in the 2022/23 season.

The only women remotely capable of challenging her were Suvi Minkkinen and Julia Simon. The two of them only had a single miss coming into the final shoot, putting pressure on Öberg; with the Swede hitting all five targets, however, they were left to fight for second. Minkkinen won that battle thanks to yet another flawless shoot, while Simon missed twice – effectively costing her a second consecutive podium.

Third place was in fact picked up by Hanna Öberg who, despite two misses, joined her sister on the podium thanks to a remarkable comeback from 13th position. Simon, who looked to have nothing left to give in the final loop, settled for fourth, with Preuß repeating her fifth-place finish from the sprint.

The best pursuit time was put up by none other than Justine Braisaz-Bouchet. The 29-year-old had a disastrous sprint that left her down in 31st, though a great performance on Sunday saw her move up to sixth by the end of the race.

It was a tough race for two of the overall cup contenders. Jeanmonnot missed four targets and could only hang on to 10th, while Kirkeeide had a torrid time, dropping from fourth to 22nd with an uncharacteristic six misses.

Between the sprint and the pursuit, the third women’s relay took place, and France bounced back after a difficult time in Hochfilzen to sweep the field and dominate the race, using just eight rounds in as many shooting sessions.

The fight for second between Norway and Germany went down to the wire. Kirkeeide was up against Preuß in the last standing shooting session, and despite the support of the German crowd, the Norwegian came out victorious with a spectacular clean shoot. Preuss was still able to bring the home nation to the podium, coming in third.

Finland won the race for fourth, despite Sonja Leinamo’s three penalty loops after a treacherous standing shooting performance. It was Minkkinen who once again brought it home for the Finns, while Sweden had to settle for fifth, after Anna-Karin Heijdenberg and Hanna Öberg both hit the penalty loop once in their respective legs. On the other hand, the United States were mighty impressive, finishing in six and using just nine spare rounds.

Despite her far-from-perfect results, Jeanmonnot held on to the yellow bib as well as top spot in the sprint standings – though the gap on her rivals shrunk considerably. Minkkinen now sits in second, just 50 points behind; the Finn is enjoying her best-ever season, with five trips to the podium including a win, and still leads the pursuit standings.

Kirkeeide drops to third, though still within striking distance as she only has 16 points less than Minkkinen. Fourth is Anna Magnusson, who still dreams of fighting for the overall globe after finishing eighth in the sprint and seventh in the pursuit. Elvira Öberg’s double victory propelled her up to fifth in the overall standings, 133 points behind Jeanmonnot.

Header image credit: Christian Heilwagen / IBU