The contrast between the gray, deserted city center in the Saxony city of Dresden to the joy and excitement sounding from the stadium filled with nearly twenty thousand cheering fans in Le Grand-Bornand is blaring.

Currently racing the cross-country World Cup in Dresden, Germany, in a venue totally closed to spectators, French skier Lucas Chanavat comments on the stark contrast to the biathlon World Cup in Grand-Bornand, France. 

Hailing from the Annecy-Le Grand-Bornand area himself, Chanavat can’t help but envy at the biathletes racing their World Cup in his village this weekend.

Bagging a World Cup podium in a downtown show sprint event is not nearly as exciting when nobody’s cheering and the atmosphere is totally lacking. 

“It’s frustrating to see that there is nobody here when the sprint is a show,” Chanavat says to Nordic Magazine after his third-place performance in the skate sprint on Saturday. 

“More than anything, it makes you long for the experience of what’s currently happening in Grand-Bornand, in my village. I dream of having a sprint like this (in Dresden) at home, in a crazy atmosphere! It’s crazy to see so many people there, where it’s always a big party. The biathletes are having that right now,” he says. 

However, the cross-country skiers will have the opportunity to ski in front of the French spectators in a few weeks. January 14 to 16, the FIS World Cup arrives at the Station des Rousses in the French Jura department.