After Nathalie Santer (Bjoerndalen's ex-wife), who competed for Belgium back in the 90s and early-mid 2000s, and even won 3 races, Belgium hadn't representation in women's biathlon for more than 10 years.
Only in 2016 did the naturalized ex-German Rieke De Maeyer appear in Belgium. But she made her World Cup debut in 2019, together with ex-Norwegian Lotte Lie.
Actually, in the Belgium team are a lot of nationally, but there are nobody, who was born in Belgium :).
Maya Cloetens is a native of France who has been competing for Belgium since 2022.
Eve Bouvard is another French woman.
And finally Marine Debloem, also a former Frenchwoman who joined Belgium in 2023. By the way, she will be the youngest athlete at this World Championship, she is only 18.
However, its real debut may not take place, if Lie, Bouvard and Cloetens fail to keep the team in the same lap as the leaders.
Anyway, happy debut, Belgium!
