Martin Fourcade (; born 14 September 1988) is a French retired biathlete and military officer.Fourcade, Martin, Équipe de France Militaire de Ski 2011. He is a six-time Olympic champion, a thirteen-time World Champion and a seven-time winner of the Overall World Cup. As of February 2026, he is the second most successful French Winter Olympian of all time after Quentin Fillon Maillet. Fourcade is the all-time biathlon record holder of overall World Cup titles with seven big crystal globes and he's also the all-time record holder of the most consecutive Major Championships titles with at least one non-team gold medal in every major championship from 2011 to 2018.
On 13 March 2020, he announced his retirement following the 2019–2020 season. , he serves as president of the Athletes' Commission of the organising committee for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, France. In February 2022 Fourcade was elected to serve eight-year terms as a member of both the International Olympic Committee and the IOC Athletes' Commission.
Fourcade is an officer of the French Army. He graduated from the High Mountain Military School in Chamonix in 2014. In 2017 he was made a sous-lieutenant.
Career This article uses the phrase "non-team" when referring to individual competitions to avoid mixing up one of the biathlon disciplines, the individual discipline and individual competitions in general.
Early career Fourcade took up biathlon in 2002 and started competing internationally in 2006, following in the footsteps of his older brother Simon Fourcade. The younger Fourcade competed for France in the 2007 and 2008 Junior World Championships, winning a bronze medal in the relay in 2007.
Fourcade first competed in the Biathlon World Cup at Oslo in March 2008, finishing 61st in what would be his only World Cup appearance that season. The next season was already much more successful for him, as he grabbed his first World Cup points at Hochfilzen, placing 36th in the individual race and 10th in the sprint. His best results that year came at the 2009 World Championships, where he finished in the top 20 in every competition, including an 8th place in the pursuit and a 4th place in the relay. Fourcade finished 24th in the overall World Cup that year.
2009–10 season: First wins and first discipline World Cup title, First Olympic gold 2009–10 World Cup season results No. World Cup location Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass start Relay Mixed relay 1 Östersund, Sweden 7 8 — — 1 — 2 Hochfilzen, Austria — 12 14 — 4 — 3 Pokljuka, Slovenia DNS DNS DNS — — — 4 Oberhof, Germany — 84 — 21 2 — 5 Ruhpolding, Germany — 6 — 5 DNS — 6 Antholz-Anterselva, Italy 8 6 4 — — — Vancouver, Canada 14 35 34 1 6 — 7 Kontiolahti, Finland — 3 1 — — DNS 8 Oslo, Norway — 1 1 21 — — 9 Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia — DNF — 6 — — WCH Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia — — — — — 5 Key:"—" denotes discipline not held; DNS—Did not start; DNF—Did not finish.
Fourcade again improved in the 2009–10 season, consistently finishing in the top 10 and making the French team for the 2010 Winter Olympics, together with his brother. Fourcade grabbed a gold medal in the mass start, marking his first Olympic medal and the first time he made the podium in a World Cup event. Fourcade then claimed his first victory in a pursuit at Kontiolahti, and followed up with two more first places at Oslo, in a sprint and another pursuit. The two pursuit victories meant Fourcade won the 2009–10 Pursuit World Cup, edging out Austria's Simon Eder by just one point. In the overall World Cup he finished 5th, 64 points ahead of his brother Simon, who finished a career-best 7th.
2010–11 season: First World Championship title, first overall World Cup podium 2010–11 World Cup season results No. World Cup location Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass start Relay Mixed relay 1 Östersund, Sweden 3 3 5 — — — 2 Hochfilzen, Austria — 38 13 — 3 — 3 Pokljuka, Slovenia DNF 16 — — — 3 4 Oberhof, Germany — 68 — 4 6 — 5 Ruhpolding, Germany 2 2 2 — — — 6 Antholz-Anterselva, Italy — 21 — 1 7 — 7 Presque Isle, United States — 2 7 — — DNS 8 Fort Kent, United States — 4 2 1 — — WCH Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia 10 2 1 10 12 3 9 Oslo, Norway — 35 3 7 — — Key:"—" denotes discipline not held; DNS—Did not start; DNF—Did not finish. The 2010–11 season was also highly successful for Fourcade. He opened the season at Östersund with three top 5 finishes, including two 3rd places. After somewhat weaker showings at Pokljuka and Oberhof, Fourcade placed runner-up in all three races at Ruhpolding. Fourcade won mass starts at both Antholz and Fort Kent, and entered the 2011 World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia as one of the favourites.
The first event at the World Championships was the mixed relay, where the French placed 3rd after Fourcade as anchor showed the best male performance in the race to lift his team up from 5th. Fourcade then claimed the silver medal behind Arnd Peiffer in the sprint, despite missing two shots at the prone stage; Fourcade was the fastest skier in the competition. The next day in the pursuit Fourcade won the gold despite three penalties, thanks to turning in another fastest skiing performance.
Fourcade finished 3rd in the Overall World Cup, 4th in the Sprint, 2nd in the Pursuit, 3rd in the Individual and 2nd in the Mass Start.
2011–12 season: First overall World Cup title, three World Championships golds 2011–12 World Cup season results No. World Cup location Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass start Relay Mixed relay 1 Östersund, Sweden 1 4 1 — — — 2 Hochfilzen, Austria — 22 24 — 3 — 3 Hochfilzen, Austria — 2 7 — — DNS 4 Oberhof, Germany — DNS — 13 7 — 5 Nové Město, Czech Republic 10 3 2 — — — 6 Antholz-Anterselva, Italy — 3 — 3 1 — 7 Oslo, Norway — 10 4 5 — — 8 Kontiolahti, Finland — 1 2 — — DNS WCH Ruhpolding, Germany 25 1 1 1 2 11 9 Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia — 1 1 15 — — Key:"—" denotes discipline not held; DNS—Did not start; DNF—Did not finish.
Fourcade had the best possible start in 2011–12 season with 2 wins in the individual and the pursuit in Östersund, Sweden, leading the Overall ranking for the first time.
In Nové Město, Czech Republic, he finished 3rd in the sprint, alongside his older brother Simon who took the 2nd place, behind Norway's Emil Hegle Svendsen. It was the first time in biathlon's history that 2 brothers stood on a podium together. In the following pursuit (although finishing respectively 2nd and 3rd) Simon was downgraded to 4th place after IBU decided to upgrade Germany's Arnd Peiffer following a target's malfunction (Peiffer did an extra lap). But the French team claimed Martin had purposely slowed down before crossing the line, seeing that Simon was far behind. IBU finally decided to tie Peiffer and Martin.
Antholz was a fantastic weekend for the French team, both men and women relays taking 1st place and Fourcade finishing 3rd of the sprint and the mass Start.
On home soil in Oslo, Emil Hegle Svendsen grabbed the yellow bib from Fourcade.
The first to start, Fourcade managed to win the sprint despite extreme temperatures in Kontiolahti, Finland (−18 °C).
At the World Championships in Ruhpolding, Fourcade won three gold medals in sprint, pursuit and mass start. He became only the third male biathlete to win three non-team gold medals at a single World Championships after Raphaël Poirée (Oberhof 2004) and Ole Einar Bjørndalen (Hochfilzen 2005 and Pyeongchang 2009).
Fourcade won the overall World Cup for the first time, as well as the discipline titles in the sprint and the pursuit.
2012–13 season: Overwhelming overall World Cup title, a World Championship gold and five medals 2012–13 World Cup season results No. World Cup location Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass start Relay Mixed relay 1 Östersund, Sweden 1 10 1 — — DNS 2 Hochfilzen, Austria — 2 3 — 2 — 3 Pokljuka, Slovenia — 3 3 4 — — 4 Oberhof, Germany — 16 14 — DNS — 5 Ruhpolding, Germany — 1 — 1 1 — 6 Antholz-Anterselva, Italy — 6 4 — 1 — WCH Nové Město, Czech Republic 1 2 2 10 2 2 7 Oslo, Norway — 2 1 2 — — 8 Sochi, Russia 1 1 — — DNS — 9 Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia — 1 3 1 — — Key:"—" denotes discipline not held; DNS—Did not start; DNF—Did not finish. Fourcade started the 2012–13 season with a win in the individual in Östersund. At the time he had improved his shooting to 89%.
In Hochfilzen, Fourcade finished 2nd and 3rd in the sprint and in the pursuit, respectively.
Having had mediocre weekends in Pokljuka and Oberhof, Fourcade went on to win both the sprint and the mass start in Ruhpolding.
At the World Championships in Nové Město, Fourcade had to settle for silver both in sprint and in pursuit as Emil Hegle Svendsen won both events. In the latter, Fourcade lost the gold by one tenth of a second to Svendsen, leaving the Frenchman disappointed, citing that he would "think of that 2,4 cm everyday when training next summer". Fourcade was, however, able to take a gold in the individual, his fifth World Championships gold medal.
The end of the season was a successful one for Fourcade, as he picked up wins in the pursuit in Oslo, in the individual and in the sprint in Sochi and in the sprint and in the mass start in Khanty-Mansiysk.
Fourcade finished the season with over 400 overall world cup points more than Svendsen who finished second, thus winning his second overall World Cup title. In addition, he won all of discipline titles, becoming only the second male biathlete after Raphaël Poirée to win all of the crystal globes in one season.
2013–14 season: Olympic golds and a silver, third overall World Cup title in a row Just like in the previous season, Fourcade started the 2013–14 season by winning the Östersund individual. In addition, he won the sprint two days later. He then went on to take a third win of the season in Hochfilzen pursuit. Fourcade couldn't, however, add to his win count in Annecy, France, his best result being third in the sprint.
At the start of the year 2014 Fourcade won the mass start in Oberhof, his first World Cup victory there. He then decided to skip the Ruhpolding weekend to train for the olympics. His final tune-up for the olympics, the Antholz World Cup weekend wasn't all that successful, although the French team, anchored by Martin Fourcade, did win the men's relay.
Ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi Fourcade admitted that he will be under pressure, but that he will be able to handle it. He also said that he is capable of winning every race he enters but that there will be others, mainly Emil Hegle Svendsen, with a great level of self-confidence. The first non-team race, the sprint, ended in disappointing sixth place for Fourcade. However, he was able to turn the tables in the following pursuit, climbing from sixth to first, winning his first olympic gold medal. After the last shot at the last standing shooting Fourcade famously stretched his arm in the air and pumped his fist, explaining that it was all happiness, knowing the weight of that shooting. In the individual, Fourcade carried on his good form, hitting 19 out of 20 targets in winning his second olympic gold medal. The mass-start ended in a slight disappointment for Fourcade, for even though claiming his third medal of the games, a silver, he lost the gold by some centimeters, Svendsen claiming the victory in photo-finish. Regardless of that, Fourcade was by far the most successful male biathlete of the 2014 Winter Olympics. In addition, he became only the second male biathlete after Ole Einar Bjørndalen to have won a non-team Olympic gold medal, a non-team World Championships gold medal, the Overall World Cup title and all of the discipline World Cup titles in his career.