2024-02-18 19:58:00
Supported by its exceptional female contingent, which gleans eight individual medals out of twelve possible, the French team leaves the world championships in the Czech Republic with the finest harvest in its history, this Sunday, February 18.
Twenty out of twenty. On a calmer shooting range and under a resplendent sun which raised the mercury to eight degrees, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet cleared her twenty targets. And the skier from Les Saisies went to reach the finish with a large lead, welcomed by all the French staff at the top of the last climb with an ola, to become mass-start world champion, this Sunday, February 18 in Nove Mesto.
Twenty out of twenty, this could almost be the score of the Blues in these biathlon worlds, as the tricolors outrageously dominated the competition in the Czech Republic. In the heart of the Bohemian-Moravian Mountains, three French biathletes in particular – Julia Simon, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, and Lou Jeanmonnot – carried out a real raid. These three, coached by Cyril Burdet (physical preparation) and Jean-Paul Giachino (shooting), won eight individual medals out of twelve at stake, illustration of a collective with unprecedented density. No surprise, therefore, that the title in the women’s relay, the first in history in world championships for the French, also fell into the French hands this winter.
Big smiles
This collective demonstration, combined with podiums in mixed, mixed singles and men’s relay, allows France to total thirteen medals including six titles, improving its best total collected at the 2016 world championships in Oslo (eleven medals including six titles).
A harvest consistent with the first part of the season. Here again on the women’s side, the statistics stand out: fifteen individual podiums, eight victories out of fourteen possible, three different winners, four athletes on the box. Usual in the past for nations like Norway or Germany, this density among the best in the world is a real novelty for France among women.
Broad smiles, which make us forget the setbacks of the pre-season between Julia Simon and Justine Braisaz-Bouchet. The two leaders of this French team, both aged 27 and licensed to the Saisies club, have been on opposite sides of the legal field since the filing of two complaints against Simon, including one by Braisaz-Bouchet, for fraud in the bank card (Simon for his part filed a complaint against X for identity theft). The affair was quickly relegated to the background with the results of the French women. Especially since the two, who have never been great friends, have been able to ignore the private sphere to get in tune when it counts.
The men behind
Conversely, their male counterparts, once in high spirits during the Martin Fourcade or Quentin Fillon-Maillet 2022 Winter Olympics version, were only able to glean one medal if we exclude the relays. Again like their 2023-2024 exercise: these gentlemen arrived in Nove Mesto in an opposite state of mind and dynamic: no individual podium, unheard of for more than three decades. Performances below the expectations placed on “QFM” or Emilien Jacquelin at the start of the season. The French drew on a large part of the races, suffering from the Norwegian yoke, they who had only left eleven places on the podium (out of 42 possible) to the other nations before the worlds.
The fact remains that these world championships are not to be forgotten either. In the mass start on Sunday, the final event of the fortnight, Fillon-Maillet took bronze, his first podium of the season. And leaves with four medals, his best total at world championships. “Coming home with two gold medals (mixed relay and single mixed relay) and two bronze medals (relay and mass start), it’s great. The season will not be wasted, assured Fillon Maillet, who now has fifteen world medals. It’s a heartwarmer and a great start to the end of the season.”
#ball #French #women #Libération