the Martin Fourcade Nordic Festival in Annecy, a showcase for biathlon
Since Friday, the third edition of the Martin Fourcade Nordique Festival has been held on the Pâquier, in Annecy. An event intended to promote biathlon, a very popular but still confidential discipline.
For the third time, the tents of the Martin Fourcade Nordic Festival have taken up residence on the Pâquier, in Annecy. From Friday September 2 to Sunday September 4, more than 30,000 people are expected to attend this great biathlon festival.
The Martin Fourcade Nordique Festival was created without surprise by the eponymous biathlete, unfortunately retired since 2020, to promote his Olympic discipline. On the program: two courses bringing together the best biathletes in the world, including the French Quentin Fillon Maillet, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Emilien Jacquelin. But also initiations and a race open to the general public this Sunday afternoon.
An event intended to democratize biathlon and attract new practitioners.
The queue stretches in front of the shooting range organized by the French Ski School (ESF). The rifles are made of wood, the targets only 10 meters away, but who cares: the important thing is to try your hand at shooting.
Paul, who has just returned to second, took advantage of his lunch break to come to the festival with two friends. “I’m a big fan of cross-country skiing but I had never tried biathlonexplains the student. It seems to me to be a very complicated, but passionate sport. So why not try in a club under real conditions.”
A few meters from him, Chloé has just achieved a clear round. “I only knew biathlon from television, so it’s nice to be able to learn like that. I find shooting interesting, but I haven’t tried skating yet.”
In addition, another stand offers a simulation of skating, coupled with laser rifle shooting. Sophie and Adrien have just played the game. “It’s a sport that I would like to practice, declare the latter, still out of breath. There is this effort side and this technical side, with the concentration necessary for shooting, which is interesting. His company takes over: “We have just arrived in Annecy. It’s an opportunity to try out new sports, and why not biathlon for the winter season.”
Mission accomplished for the illustrious organizer of the festival. “When you want to attend a biathlon event or even practice, you have to take your car, go to the mountains, sometimes brave difficult weather conditionsexplains Martin Fourcade. Our desire is to bring sport to the heart of the city, to allow everyone to learn biathlon for free, to democratize this discipline in plain language.”
With this festival, I wanted to give back to biathlon everything that this discipline has given me.
Martin FourcadeCreator of the Martin Fourcade Nordic Festival
Martin Fourcade, and the Isérois Raphaël Poirée before him, were among those athletes who knew how to highlight their discipline. “I had the enormous chance to see biathlon grow at the same time as my career.confides the five-time Olympic champion. When I retired, I feared that this momentum would fade. Fortunately, the French team took over directly with Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, Quentin Fillon Maillet and Emilien Jacquelin.
Although biathlon is a sport covered in the media and very popular, its practice remains confidential. This is evidenced by the number of licensees in competition: these have increased from 6,100 people in 2016 to 6,800 in 2020, according to figures from the French Ski Federation (FFS). For its part, alpine skiing had around 33,000 licensees in competition in 2020.
“It’s still a mountain sport that you can’t practice in Brittany or in the South-Westrecognizes Martin Fourcade. That’s why we bring biathlon to the city to promote it with this festival. But we still feel a real attraction given the number of people that the event attracts.
During the last edition, the festival brought together around 20,000 people. Organizers expecting 10,000 more this year. This Sunday morning, 400 children took part in a cross biathlon event. At 1 p.m., more than 600 adults will be on the starting line of the biathlon running.