Camille Bened (born 6 September 2000) is a French

biathlete The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not ti ...

. She is a five-time junior world champion in biathlon.

Career

Camille Bened competed exclusively in junior-level events from 2016 to 2019. She made her debut in the IBU Junior Cup in December 2016 in

Lenzerheide Lenzerheide ( Romansh: ''Lai'') is a mountain resort in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland at the foot of the Parpaner Rothorn. The village lies in the municipality Vaz/Obervaz in the district of Albula, sub-district Alvaschein. Th ...

and celebrated her first victory with the relay team during the same season. In February 2017, she emerged as one of the most successful athletes at the

European Youth Olympic Festival The European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) is a biennial multi-sport event for youth (14 to 18 years old) athletes from the 50 member countries of the association of European Olympic Committees. The festival has a summer edition, held for the fi ...

, winning a gold, silver, and bronze medal. The following winter, she achieved two individual podium finishes and, alongside Myrtille Bègue and

Lou Jeanmonnot Lou Jeanmonnot (born 28 October 1998) is a French biathlete. Her World Cup debut was in 2021 in Nové Město. She won a gold medal at the 2024 Biathlon World Championships in relay. Biathlon results All results are sourced from the Internation ...

, secured the relay gold at the Youth World Championships. In December 2018, Bened won her first individual Junior Cup race and defended the relay title at the Youth World Championships with Jeanmonnot and

Sophie Chauveau Sophie Chauveau (; born 12 June 1999) is a French biathlete. She has competed in the Biathlon World Cup since 2022. Biathlon results All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union The International Biathlon Union (IBU; ) is the ...

. At the 2019 Junior European Championships, she achieved victories in the individual and sprint races thanks to her flawless shooting. At the start of the 2019/20 season, Bened made her debut in the

IBU Cup The IBU Cup in biathlon has been held since the winter seasons of 1982–83 and 1988–89, for women and men, respectively. Until the 2007–08 season this competition was called Biathlon European Cup. It is the second-rank competition in biathlo ...

, finishing in the top 10 in her third race, the pursuit in

Sjusjøen Sjusjøen is a cross country skiing destination in the municipality of Ringsaker in Innlandet county, Norway. Situated on the mountain plateau south of Sjusjøen is Hedmarksvidda. The area is located with forest and mountain terrain about above ...

. She again claimed relay gold at the Junior World Championships, this time with Laura Boucaud, Lou Anne Chevat, and Paula Botet. Her best results at her first

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

were 25th in the super sprint and 7th in the mixed relay. In January 2021, she reached her first individual IBU Cup podium with a third-place finish in

Arber Arber is a surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, ...

behind Russians

Tatiana Akimova Tatiana Sergeyevna Akimova, née Semenova (; born 26 October 1990) is a Russian biathlete. She competes in the Biathlon World Cup, and represented Russia at the Biathlon World Championships 2016, the Biathlon World Championships 2017, the 2017 ...

and Anastasia Shevchenko. Shortly after, she placed second with the mixed relay team. At the Junior World Championships, Bened won another relay gold and achieved her first and only individual title by winning the individual race. During the 2021/22 season, Bened placed in the top ten in individual races seven times, finishing fifth in the overall standings. She secured her first IBU Cup sprint victory in

Osrblie Osrblie () is a village and municipality in Brezno District, in the Banská Bystrica Region of central Slovakia. The village is best known for biathlon races, with Biathlon World Cup events taking place since the mid-1990s and with one Biathlon Wor ...

and ended the season with another win in

Ridnaun Ratschings (; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in South Tyrol in northern Italy, located about north of the city of Bolzano, on the border with Austria. Geography As of 30 November 2010, it had a population of 4,363 and an area of .All demograp ...

with the mixed relay. In the 2022/23 season, she again finished in the top ten eight times but only managed a single podium finish with the mixed relay, taking third place in

Canmore Canmore may refer to: *Canmore (database), a Scottish national online database of ancient monuments; *Canmore, Alberta, a town in Canada; *the House of Dunkeld, a royal house that ruled Scotland in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries, including **Malc ...

. In January 2024, Bened won her first European Championships medal, claiming silver in the mixed relay alongside Théo Guiraud-Poillot,

Antonin Guigonnat Antonin Guigonnat (born 2 July 1991) is a French biathlete who competes internationally. He participated in the 2018 Winter Olympics, and is the brother of Gilonne Guigonnat. On February 18, 2021, he became world champion in the single mixed ...

, and

Océane Michelon Océane Michelon (born 4 March 2002) is a French biathlete. She has competed in the Biathlon World Cup since 2024. Career Océane Michelon gained her first international experience at the 2020 Youth World Championships in Lenzerheide, where sh ...

, finishing behind the Norwegian team. That same winter, she secured three more IBU Cup podium finishes, narrowly missing a sprint victory in Arber in early February due to a shooting miss.

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the

International Biathlon Union The International Biathlon Union (IBU; ) is the international governing body of biathlon. Its headquarters were in Salzburg, Austria, until May 2020, when the Federation moved to Anif, on the outskirts of the city. It was rocked by a corruption ...

Youth and Junior World Championships

''5 medals (5 gold)''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bened, Camille 2000 births Living people French female biathletes People from Évian-les-Bains Sportspeople from Haute-Savoie 21st-century French sportswomen