The raid was expected. Impressive since the start of the World Cup season, the Blues have not faltered at the World Championships in Antholz-Anterselva (Italy). With three titles and a total of eight podiums, France has certainly not broken its historic record of 2016, with the eleven medals brought back from Oslo. For that, it would have required a more efficient female sector but Justine Braisaz and her little comrades lived a ordeal on the cross-alpine launch pad, that 5th place, Sunday, of Julia Simon during the mass start could not save a painful questioning. Which made Célia Aymonier (11th) say, at the microphone of the L'Équipe channel: “ It's complicated to manage for us. There is no proven leader capable of making podiums every weekend. It is being built, it takes patience and indulgence. In men, on the other hand, smiles were de rigueur.
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Like a Martin Fourcade who confirmed his return to the fore by matching Ole Einar Bjorndalen's individual title record by winning his 11th title last Thursday. While filling one of the very few holes in his record by winning the gold in the relay, which had escaped the Blues for nineteen years. A much-deserved consecration for a radiant collective. For several seasons now, Fourcade has no longer been the tree hiding the forest with the emergence of Quentin Fillon Maillet and Simon Desthieux in its majestic wake. So certainly, in Italy, the first will have played the Poulidors of biathlon by "being satisfied" with two silver medals in solo during the sprint and the mass start, leaving him without doubt a little taste of unfinished, even if he said the opposite: " I am satisfied with my Worlds. During the mass start, Johannes (Boe) was the strongest and even if I had not come to seek this silver medal, it remains a beautiful balance sheet . Simon Desthieux will doubtless have more regrets since he failed to get on the box on an individual level.
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A disappointment overshadowed by the emergence of Emilien Jacquelin who, at 24, went from the status of a promising future to that of world champion in pursuit. Without forgetting his bronze medals during the mass start and the simple mixed relay alongside Anaïs Bescond. A near faultless for the Isérois who really took on a new dimension on the occasion of these Worlds and asserts himself as a perfectly credible successor to a Martin Fourcade who may well have lived, at Antholz, his last World Championships . At 31 years old. Indeed, for now, the five-time Olympic champion remains enigmatic as to his intention to continue his career, or not, until the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing. " I don't think about that ," he said on Thursday after his individual title. I just want to have fun and continue to be the best every day . At these Worlds, it has definitively proven that he kept his place at the top of his discipline, he who should conquer his eighth big crystal globe in a month in Oslo. Another new record.
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