Fortieth on the individual test and 48th of the Sprint of the Beijing Games, the 25-year-old French won an unexpected gold medal on the Mass Start.
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From the race, no one would have bet on her. Too unegregular shooting to seriously consider victory in the Mass Feminine Start of the Beijing Olympics. And then the wind invited, adding a lottery share to this race bringing together the thirty best biathletes, the queen test of these games. Friday, February 18th in Zhangjiakou, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet went through the gusts to become, at 25 years old, Olympic champion of Mass Start, in front of the Norwegian Tiril Eckhoff and Marte Olsbu Roeeland. The other French women, Julia Simon, Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet and Anaïs Bescond finished respectively 6 e and 29 e of the race .
The victory of the Savoyard, licensed to the seizures, built in the third of the four shots of this race of five 2.5 km loops. While she was more than one minute from Eckhoff and Roeeland, who went respectively to turn two and three times on the penalty ring, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet dropped without complex and without error the five bullets of his charger . It then emerged, at the same time as Roeeland and in front of a pack of prosecutors.
But this season, the French is, with the Swedish Elvira Oeberg, the best on the skis. On the fourth and last shot, Braisaz-Bouchet, capable of the best as the worst behind the rifle, does not arise a question: 4 out of 5. None of his opponents will do better.
Jean-Paul Giachino and Patrick Favre, the two firing coaches of the France team, can be caught in the arms: Justine Braisaz-Bouchet is Olympic champion, she will no longer be joined. Jean-Pierre Amat, Chinese Coach After more than twenty years in the Tricolores, and Siegfried Mazet, ex-blue past at the Norwegians, are approaching and warmly congratulating French technicians.
“I told myself before the race it was my second Jo, no matter what was happening, I was just happy to be there and I had a lot of luck,” said La Française On arrival.
First major major title
This gold medal represents the first major major title for Justine Braisaz-Bouchet. Since its first individual victory in the World Cup, in Grand-Bornand, in December 2017, the biathlete has often had to fight, in the past, its doubts and its emotional fragilities on the firing step. Fortieth on the individual and 48 e of sprint, she had not taken part in the relay nor at the mixed relay in Beijing. An extra freshness for the race of the queens.
The title of Justine Braisaz-Bouchet saves the overall provision of blue during these games. After the silver medal of the mixed relay, only Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet had managed to ride on the Olympic podium (silver on the individual, February 7). Since then, the French have been deceiving in disappointment. At the Sprint, February 11, Anaïs Bescond, arrival 9 e , was the best of the tricolor clan, when others dive into the depths of the ranking. Two days later, Julia Simon, despite an excellent lift – 21 places earned – could do better than 8 e on the pursuit. And the blue people collapsed during the relay, Wednesday, only sixth.
With this new medal, the French biathlon proves once again that it remains the main medal provider for the France team. The total of six medals obtained in Vancouver is already beaten. And at the time of the Triumph of Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, the Blues taken away by Quentin Fillon Maillet had not yet slender for the Mass Start Men.