For the first time since the start of the Games, a biathlon event ended without a hexagonal representative on the podium this Friday during the women’s sprint.
This cannot smile every time for the French biathlon. After an Olympic title – Quentin Fillon-Maillet in the individual – and two silver medals – Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet in the individual and the mixed relay -, the hexagonal clan came back down to earth this Friday for the sprint female, which ended in collective shipwreck. With the exception of Anaïs Bescond, the former who was able to limit the breakage of a day without on skis for all the Bleues and win a 9e place – with a shooting fault – which still gives him some hope of being able to shine during the pursuit on Sunday. Even if, with more than a minute behind the Norwegian Olympic champion Marte Roeiseland, the mission promises to be complicated. Will remain the podium, no doubt, with a Dorothea Wierer, 3e this day with thirty seconds of margin on the best Frenchwoman.
«Even if I regret my mistake in the prone shot and the fact of having lacked a little energy on the last lap, the balance sheet remains positive for me.“says Anaïs Bescond. Before defending his comrades. “The girls may have been missed during this sprint but we know their level, their value. It is a bad copy, an error, which does not represent what they are worth. Today is going to be grimaceous, but there are still great things to look for at these Games.» More on the pursuit for Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet, who with her four fouls at the shooting range finished 68e, which means that she will not compete in the Sunday event. What breathe and digest his beautiful silver medal of the individual. With his 29e place at 1’56”, Julia Simon will have a lot to do and will have to count on the possible return of the wind to the site to reverse a very unfavorable trend.
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For Justine Braisaz (48th at 2’34”), the hopes of a medal were quickly taken away also during this sprint. From the first lying shot, the Frenchwoman missed a target, before taking a long time to fire her last cartridge. Which, of course, was a hit, but the Albertville native found herself immediately relegated to more than 40 seconds from the best, a crippling gap in the sprint. Especially since behind, Braisaz drank the chalice to the dregs with two stray balls far from the targets to finish very far from his podium ambitions. “I feel both sadness, frustration and incomprehension about my feelings on the skis. Regarding the shooting, I’m very angry about what I did when the conditions were excellent and I didn’t know how to take advantage of it. And then, I really exploded on the skis during the last lap.»
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