Victories in Ruhpolding were split between Hanna Öberg and Lou Jeanmonnot, who took the spoils in the sprint and the pursuit respectively, with the Frenchwoman also extending her lead in the overall standings. All Things Snow recaps all the action on the women’s side from the fifth event of the 2025/26 Biathlon World Cup.

By Daniele Spadi

Often a theatre of close races and emphatic finishes, Ruhpolding provided more of the same in 2026. The fifth competition of the season included two individual races – the fifth sprint of the 2025/26 campaign and its subsequent pursuit – as well as the women’s relay. 

The team competition took place on Wednesday, with plenty of athletes not at their peak due to the heavy training load focused on the following two individual races. This opened up some interesting scenarios, as Lou Jeanmonnot won the opening leg of the relay, though the advantage on the rest of the field was just 5.5 seconds.

Italy was the first of the hunting nations, and a strong performance from Dorothea Wierer – who skipped all competitions in Oberhof last weekend to focus on her individual training towards her home Olympic Games – put Italy at the front at the halfway stage together with Sweden. The two teams would stay at the top after leg three too, with an in-form Michela Carrara keeping up with Elvira Öberg all the way to the final exchange.

A four-way fight for the win ensued. Italy seemed to have the upper hand thanks to Lisa Vittozzi’s impeccable shooting performance, with the 2023/24 overall champion keeping Julia Simon at bay on the last loop, while Hanna Öberg’s three misses prevented Sweden from fighting for the win.

No one, however, had an answer for Maren Kirkeeide. Despite two misses, the Norwegian delivered a sensational final lap, gaining six seconds in the last 500 metres and overtaking Vittozzi on the run down to the finish line to snatch away victory. This marks Norway’s first relay win of the year, which came in the one event where Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, who has been struggling to find her form and is still unsure about her Olympic spot, did not compete.

Italy settled for second – an impressive feat the team would be more than happy to repeat in four weeks’ time at their home Olympics in Antholz. Sweden finished third just three seconds behind Norway, making this one of the closest finishes in women’s relay history. France came in fourth after winning in emphatic fashion last week in Oberhof, while another top five finish came for the Czech Republic.

In Friday’s sprint, perfect weather conditions and Ruhpolding’s traditionally more forgiving range made for a race with sky high shooting percentages. Eight of the top 10 finishers went 10 for 10, with the top seven failing to miss a single target between them.

It all came down to skiing speed, and just like in Annecy, the podium featured a Swede, a Frenchwoman, and an Italian. The top two stayed the same; Hanna Öberg delivered another impressive performance to take her second win of the season, and the third straight success for the Öberg family after Elvira’s double in Oberhof. Jeanmonnot flirted with victory but settled for second, while third place saw Vittozzi take Wierer’s place on the podium. The Italian once again had the fastest range time, clearing both sessions in less than 40 seconds.

Fourth went to Elvira Öberg, while Franziska Preuß came through for another top five finish. Suvi Minkkinen limited her points loss to Jeanmonnot by finishing sixth, while Marthe Krakstad Johansen enjoyed the best result of her young career thanks to her seventh-place finish. Justine Braisaz-Bouchet was eighth despite two misses, with Kirkeeide and Camille Bened rounding out the top 10.

The very tight margins from the sprint – less than 30 seconds separated the top six – made for a highly interesting pursuit. Hanna Öberg’s faulty prone shoot enabled Jeanmonnot to break away, as the Swede missed three times and tumbled down the order. On the other hand, Jeanmonnot cleaned the first fifteen targets to build a hefty lead over her competitors.

Behind her, Kirkeeide also went clean in both prone shoots, though a miss in the third session prevented her from putting enough pressure on Jeanmonnot’s shoulders. The overall leader got to the final shoot knowing she had enough of a gap to miss one target and still take home victory; that gap proved to be crucial, as she missed once but still emerged as the leader.

Jeanmonnot thus took her third win of the season with a statement performance, mirroring what happened in Le Grand-Bornand. Hanna Öberg recovered to second thanks to two flawless standing shooting sessions, while Bened rose from 10th to third thanks to an impressive race with no misses at the range – a feat only one other biathlete, Khrystyna Dmytrenko, managed to achieve.

Fourth was Kirkeeide, while Amy Baserga impressed to finish in fifth after starting down in 22nd, despite two misses in the standing. Océane Michelon was rapid on the skis, and climbed from 32nd to sixth by the end of the race, while Preuß took seventh. Minkkinen could only muster ninth after missing twice in the opening shooting session, while both Vittozzi and Wierer had a faulty performance at the range, missing three and six targets respectively to finish in 15th and 29th.

Ultimately it was Jeanmonnot who smiled the most after the Ruhpolding weekend, as she kept the yellow bib and increased her advantage to 136 points. Minkkinen is second, though Kirkeeide and Hanna Öberg are only 6 and 22 points behind her respectively.

Sweden’s Elvira Öberg and Anna Magnusson could still play a pivotal role in the fight for the overall crown, though with more than 200 points to gain on Jeanmonnot each, they will need the leader to falter in the near future in order to have a shot. That could happen as soon as next week, as the Biathlon World Cup heads to Nové Město na Moravě for a short individual and a mass start.

Header image credit: Christian Heilwagen / IBU