Mistreated by the Norwegians on an individual level, the French biathletes were able to count on the Oberhof relay to raise their head, winning Friday at the end of a successful race.
Opportunities to celebrate a victory have become very rare this season, after the retirement of Martin Fourcade, but the Blues can still capitalize on their formidable density to hide their current personal limits.
They have provided proof of this by managing this relay perfectly, leading to the outposts almost from the start.
The vain return of Johannes Boe
With only six rifle faults and very good management of their efforts on the track, they finally made a clean copy to get ahead of Norway (Vetle Christiansen, Johannes Dale, Tarjei Boe, Johannes Boe) by 4''2 and Italy (Thomas Bormolini, Lukas Hofer, Tommaso Giacomel, Dominik Windisch) for more than a minute.
Nothing to do with the two poor performances of the first two stints of the winter (8th in Kontiolahti, 6th in Hochfilzen), weighed down by Emilien Jacquelin.
This time, the revelation of the previous exercise, placed for the first time in his World Cup career in the position of last starter, did not tremble and knew how to control his nerves where his direct opponent, the German Philip Horn, totally cracked (3 penalty laps lying down).
Full of composure, Jacquelin then contained the return of Johannes Boe, who came back like an arrow on the Frenchman despite a very poorly embarked race for Norway after the second passage provided by Johannes Dale (1 penalty lap).
Breath of fresh air
This success is a little breath of fresh air for the French team, orphaned by Fourcade and who had only climbed the top step of the podium once this season, thanks to Quentin Fillon-Maillet during the pursuit. from Hochfilzen.
It is also timely within a month of the Pokljuka Worlds (February 10-22) where the Blues will defend the relay title won in 2020 in Anterselva with Fourcade.
“We struggled in the first stints, we are up against very strong teams individually like Norway.
It was the team to beat and we all had a great stint, we really did the job from start to finish with great shooting and great skiing.
We had a good discussion after our first two failures and everyone did what they can do well, ”explained Quentin Fillon-Maillet.
"It's nice to weigh on the race as we did from the first to the last stint," said Fabien Claude.
By positioning Jacquelin as the final torchbearer and Fillon-Maillet in 2nd, France above all perhaps found the right formula for the World Championships.
"I would like to register in the long term in this role," said Jacquelin.
I'm not the only one, we're lucky to have multi-card profiles, but it's a role where I felt good.
I had no stress or apprehension, I have less pressure than as a first or second torchbearer. "
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