Conduct cross-country skiing and biathlon together.
For a long time, Martin Fourcade had dreamed of it, without ever succeeding in completely taking the plunge.
World and Olympic champion in both disciplines, Benjamin Daviet, he succeeded.
An exceptional versatility, which however requires a constant investment.
"
It's necessarily complicated because you have to manage both the training doses on skis and those in shooting
," he explains.
“
Obviously, the work I do in the background is also very useful to me in biathlon, except that I can't spend my time doing just that.
To be successful in both disciplines, it requires a lot of work and adaptation.
» A balance that at 32, he has mastered to perfection, with a track record that never ceases to include new lines, he who has already won nine world champion titles (five in cross-country skiing and four in biathlon) and three Olympic gold medals.
To discover
The 2022 Winter Olympics medal table
Full results of the 2022 Winter Olympics
His designation as the French team's standard-bearer for the Paralympic Games in Beijing therefore made sense, in the eyes of his predecessor Marie Bochet, who confided about him in the columns of the Dauphiné Libéré: "
Benjamin is an example of determination and mentality.
He is able to constantly push his limits.
“
Being a standard bearer is not given to everyone
,” rejoiced the main interested party.
“
I've won everything in my career but it's true that the pinnacle is that.
“A role and a status that only increase tenfold his desire to shine on the Zhangjiakou site, which had seen Quentin Fillon-Maillet glean five medals at the Olympic Games a fortnight ago.
"
I just want to show who's boss and tear myself up to bring back medals for our country.
I will participate in six races out of seven, I aim for the podiums in each race.
As a general rule, I also like to aim for the win.
This is what also gives me mental strength.
»
I was operated on for a condyle fracture and it was then that I contracted staphylococcus aureus.
Benjamin Daviet
A mental force that was born from an unfortunate moped accident at the age of 17.
An accident whose consequences could have been benign for him who suffered from a knee.
But fate would decide otherwise.
“
I was operated on for a fractured condyle and it was then that I contracted staphylococcus aureus.
The bacteria ate away my cartilage, the meniscus, depriving my knee of its ability to articulate.
Since then, I have zero flexion, my left leg has become totally stiff
”.
There followed a delicate period during which, as he himself admits today with hindsight, he leads “
a somewhat dissolute life, made up of parties
” but without any real goal.
Until he decided, in 2010, to take up cross-country skiing.
"
I was looking for a sport where there is physical effort, surpassing oneself, being outside and on the snow, so Nordic skiing was perfect
,” he recalls.
His main rival excluded
Very quickly, the native of Annecy broke through at the top level.
In 2012, he competed in his first World Championships.
A founding discovery, since three years later, Daviet reached a milestone in the town of Cable, in American Wisconsin, with five medals, including the world relay title.
Since then, the French cross-country biathlete has only very rarely come down from the podiums, where he has become accustomed.
Even if the last Worlds in Lillehammer in January were less successful than the previous ones with "
only
» two medals obtained and no title.
But the Savoyard bet everything on these Paralympic Games in Beijing, with a preparation focused on this competition.
He will also have the involuntary advantage of being freed from competition from the Russian Vladislav Lekomtsev (five world titles in Lillehammer) who was first authorized to compete under a neutral banner, in his LW2 category (that of athletes with functioning of one leg, or lack thereof), and then ultimately ruled out by the International Paralympic Committee.
An additional reason for the Frenchman to "
still dream of Paralympic gold
".
Almost an obligation for him the standard bearer.