Even without showing their best face and in the absence of their two leaders ֤ Émilien Jacquelin and Quentin Fillon-Maillet, the Biathlon Blues still won a podium.
This Saturday, the mixed relay made up of Antonin Guigonnat, Simon Desthieux, Anaïs Bescond and Julia Simon took third place in the mixed relay in Oberhof, Germany.
The tricolor quartet, however, ended up far from Norway and Belarus.
Congratulations Norway, Belarus and France!
That's a wrap on the first relay of 2022 💥
But don't go anywhere - and fasten your seatbelt for the Single Mixed Relay.
🤩
Watch live on https://t.co/bk5aBBso9Q and follow along on the Official IBU App!
📲 # OBE22 #biathlon pic.twitter.com/tqStNwmAbp
- BMW IBU World Cup (@IBU_WC) January 8, 2022
The French were unfortunately penalized by their numerous shooting faults, with 11 picks, against only 6 and 5 for the two teams who had beaten them.
They thus finished more than 2 minutes from Norway, but can already be happy with this podium, since they were still stuck in 7th place before the last stint.
It took a Julia Simon on the attack on all her shots to manage to remake the delay accumulated so far and finally outdistance by seven seconds from Sweden.
While waiting for the prosecution
With this comeback, Simon confirmed his good legs, having already taken 2nd place in the sprint on Friday.
She will have a card to play in the women's pursuit on Sunday (2:45 p.m.).
But all eyes will be on the male pursuit, to see if the choices of the coaching of the France team are paying off.
The coaches of the Blues had decided to rest for the relay Jacquelin and Fillon-Maillet, who currently occupy in this order the head of the general classification of the World Cup.
Tomorrow I will wear the yellow bib of the leader of the world cup.
I remember having made drawings of it by @raphael_poiree with my brother @clemjacquelin.
We dreamed of it.
Then I grew up watching @martinfkde.
I dreamed about it 1/2
- Emilien Jacquelin (@EmilienJck) January 6, 2022
Second in the sprint at Oberhof on Friday, Jacquelin will once again wear the yellow bib for this race.
“I remember drawing Raphaël Poirée with my brother, he explained on Twitter.
Then I grew up watching Martin Fourcade.
I dreamed of it.
Wearing it is a huge source of pride, but not the end.
"