The day after a crazy race in the French men's relay, crowned by a silver medal, the women's biathlon team, which was one of the favorites, will not bring a seventh charm to the discipline at these Olympic Games.
Les Bleues led by Anaïs Bescond, Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Julia Simon finished sixth more than two minutes behind Sweden, Olympic champion.
Russia, 12 seconds behind, and Germany, 37 seconds behind, completed the podium.
Norway finished fourth.
A disappointment for a French team which had great ambitions, and which had obtained bronze behind Sweden and Belarus, during the last Olympic Games in 2018, in Pyeongchang.
“There is a lot of frustration.
I'm in pain, ”commented Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, at the microphone of France TV, at the end of the relay.
Too excited to shoot
The French Anaïs Bescond had opened the ball with an average first stint, and a delay of twelve seconds on the race leader made up of Germany, Sweden and Italy, three of the other big favorites of the event, at the time. to launch Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet.
But the Olympic vice-champion on the individual, during the Beijing Olympics, completely missed her lying shot with four faults and a penalty round which quickly destroyed the team's medal hopes.
“I'm very disappointed with the race, with what I did.
It's not a very good performance.
Today the conditions were very stable.
I missed my lying shot, it penalized the team, ”analyzed the Frenchwoman, at the microphone of France TV.
The Italian Dorothea Wierer, impeccable against the targets, then came out on top.
Consequence for the Blue: a tumble in the provisional classification and a delay of more than 50 seconds.
Halfway through the race, biathlete Svetlana Mironova's Russia was alone in the lead with 10 seconds ahead of Italy, ahead of Sweden, Germany and the Czech Republic... and France, only eighth at 1′ 46′'.
A major chasm, almost prohibitive, during the handover to Justine Braisaz-Bouchet.
Despite more than two minutes behind after the shot lying down, the Savoyard reduced the gap after a perfect transition to shooting standing up and went back to fifth position.
When the last runner, Julie Simon, silver medalist with the mixed relay at these Games, was launched, France was 1′16′ behind.
The native of Albertville, although surgical during the first shot, could not catch up with the leading trio.
Frustrating.