The two French women will be the last two relay runners, during the women’s relay on Wednesday. The relay lineups have been announced.
The French team has announced the composition of the women’s relay, which will take place on Wednesday at 3:20 p.m. It is a classic composition, with the best French biathletes: Lou Jeanmonnot, Chloée Chevalier, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Julia Simon. This above all confirms the choice of the staff to fully integrate Julia Simon into the French women’s team, while she is the subject of a legal complaint from her teammate, who will therefore pass the baton to her this Wednesday , Justine Braisaz-Bouchet. The latter accuses her of a bank card scam, while the world champion continues to plead her innocence.
After her failed individual race on Sunday (31st), Julia Simon explained: “I am mentally dull. This lack of mental freshness, you know very well what I attribute it to… The summer has been complicated, there are the pressure that builds up. It’s true that it seems strange to say that I’m mentally blunted when it’s the first individual competition, but it’s the truth. It’s like that. It has to be. accept. It will be, I think, complicated to hold out all winter.” The French women are nevertheless among the favorites for this relay, especially since Justine Braisaz-Bouchet has shown that she is one of the fittest biathletes on skis at the start of the season, even though she is just returning of a maternity ward. The men’s relay will be held on Thursday, before the sprints and pursuits.
A short weekend, with two relays on Saturday and two individual relays on Sunday, has already delivered its share of emotions for the French. First a beautiful bronze medal in the single mixed relay, carried by Julia Simon at the top of her art who made up for Fabien Claude’s errors (2 penalty laps). It was Sweden who won, at home, in this simple relay.
Then the classic mixed relay, with four athletes, was even more successful for the French: Quentin Fillon Maillet, Émilien Jacquelin, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Lou Jeanmonnot obtained the first victory of the season. The men were not flawless, each drawing several times and giving the baton behind the Boe brothers’ Norway. But Justine Braisaz-Bouchet was flawless for her comeback race, then Lou Jeanmonnot finished the job by clearing all the targets on the first try, while the Norwegians were less precise. A deserved and very encouraging success for the season which begins, with successful shots but also very good skiing times, in particular for Justine Braisaz-Bouchet who returns after giving birth to a second child.
The first individual races of the season were less glorious. The women’s individual did not smile on the Blues. In a format where a shooting error costs one minute, mistakes are not really allowed: Julia Simon put three balls out on the last shot and finished 31st, and Justine Braisaz-Bouchet finished 21st with a 16/20 in the shot which was fatal to him despite his excellent form on skis. Same observation for the other tricolors, none of which did better than 17/20. It was Lisa Vittozzi who won the race with a 19/20, ahead of Franziska Preuss by a tenth of a second who was faultless.
For men, the same disappointment. Apart from the good 10th place of Emilien Claude (20/20), the French were poor at shooting. Quentin Fillon-Maillet made three mistakes from the first prone shot and finished at 15/20, Emilien Jacquelin only managed a 16/20. It was the Germans who were the most skilful, with Roman Rees winning ahead of Justus Strelow, both with 19/20. But the big lesson is also that Johannes Boe is far from being as impressive as last year at the start of the season: he still finished third with an 18/20, but is not the fastest on skis and seems less invincible.
In 2023-2024, biathletes will compete in nine World Cup stages and the world championships in Nove Mesto (Czech Republic):
The Biathlon World Cup calendar for the 2023/2024 season has been revealed by the IBU (International Biathlon Union). Here is the schedule:
This 2023/2024 biathlon season will be marked by the world championships taking place in Nove Mesto (Czech Republic). From February 7 to 18, biathletes from each nation will meet at the World Championships to try to win medals. Here is the schedule for the world championships:
