He won Olympic gold in the relay last winter, but now the 31-year-old biathlete from France is completely changing direction. The Maldives, Indonesia, and New Zealand are not exactly places one would associate with training for a World Championship season.

French biathlete Fabien Claude has chosen a very different approach to his off-season training: three months split between the Maldives, Indonesia, and New Zealand with his Spanish partner Maria Fabregat, aiming to break the training routine he has followed for fifteen years.

The goal is not to take a complete break from sports, but to change the environment and training style. After an initial phase of relaxation in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia, the stay will become significantly more athletic in New Zealand starting at the end of May. Thanks to winter conditions in the Southern Hemisphere, Claude will be able to start skiing again from mid-June, while also combining cycling, trekking, and hiking, as reported by ski-nordique.net.

A Fresh start in New Zealand

The Frenchman plans to travel across the country in a camper van from Auckland to Queenstown. He will also meet Campbell Wright, who lives at the foot of the glaciers in New Zealand, and will lend him ski equipment so he can train on snow.

At 31 years old, Fabien Claude states that he wants to regain mental freshness to remain competitive leading up to the Olympics on home soil in 2030. He believes that the period following the Olympics is the perfect time to “start anew” and avoid the wear and tear of following the same training program year after year.

Read more: Olympic star hospitalized: “Scary”

Fabien Claude has had a mixed bag of results this winter, but he did secure an Olympic gold in the relay in Antholz despite a penalty loop and a time loss of 50 seconds on the first leg. He also holds a World Championship gold in the relay from 2023, and it is in relays that he has achieved his best results. He has been part of the winning team in a World Cup relay a total of 9 times.
Individually, he has yet to claim a top-level triumph, but Claude has finished second twice in the World Cup and has a total of 5 podium finishes.