Eric Perrot, the biathlon Olympic champion, spent recent months in Norway with his mother and partner Chloe Lacreuse. While traveling through the country by van, the 25-year-old also trained locally. 'It was two very intense months! It was a great experience that I really wanted. It's good to just get out and do your own thing,' Perrot said in an interview with 'Nordic Magazine.' 'I have a strong connection to Norway, so it was the perfect opportunity to experience all of this up there. I spent time with my family and my girlfriend and, above all, a lot of time in nature. Norway is really wild! We just drove around and stopped at different places.'
Before the Blink-Festival in Sandnes, Perrot met several French national teammates and his shooting coach Siegfried Mazet. Mazet had planned to join Perrot in Scandinavia during summer training. In an interview with 'Nordic Magazine,' Mazet said, 'After Perrot’s solo time in Norway, the goal was to spend some training days together.' According to Perrot, 'It wasn't holidays. I trained! Many people asked me whether the holidays were nice, but it wasn't holidays, rather training. It was very structured. Every morning there was a training session, every afternoon as well, and between noon and 2 p.m., we either drove the car or had a nap.' Mazet revealed that Perrot's participation in the event had already motivated him to plan the trip to Scandinavia in August: 'He had already planned to take part in the competitions, so I suggested that the others, especially the younger athletes, also come and participate.'
Emilien Claude, Oscar Lombardot, and Gaetan Paturel also decided to take part in the Blink-Festival for the first time. According to Mazet, Perrot remained 'exactly the way we left him two and a half months ago.' Perrot visited his family in northern Norway, spending a week there and finding his way back to shooting ranges. 'In Norway there are really a lot of them everywhere, and I had a map on which I could find them all! I clicked them and contacted the people. I was quite surprised how many there were,' he revealed. His girlfriend helped him with the organization, he explained. Mazet mentioned that Perrot and he had already spent some introductory days together in Premanon at the end of May, before Perrot made his own decisions regarding his training.
The coach mentioned that Perrot followed a specific training plan developed by Simon Fourcade. 'He lived with his family in Norway and completed the strength training that the other athletes in France followed,' Mazet explained. 'He missed some direct competition with other biathletes, but he did everything the same as the rest of the team.' Perrot also had to travel to the north of Norway, including the Lofoten islands, which required the use of a car. 'We actually spent a long time there, and while there were fewer shooting ranges and rollski tracks for me, there were wonderful roads, a dreamlike landscape, and a beautiful nature,' he said. 'I compensated for the lack of shooting opportunities through other activities, especially by hiking in beautiful landscapes.' Mazet noted that Perrot 'has not completed as much as the others' in total, but 'came very close to them in shooting training.'
Mazet confirmed that Perrot 'is fully in line with the team' and 'voll im Soll.' The next tests will show how prepared the reigning overall World Cup champion is. The competition in Sandnes is scheduled from August 5 to 8. Perrot also discussed how the van travel in Norway was exhausting due to the heavy rain during his trip.