Worlds 2023 – Men’s relay: For the Blues, the coronation of friendship and perseverance

All gold medals are tasty, but this one carries with it an even more appreciable taste for French biathlon. To say that these Oberhof Worlds have so far been frustrating for the men’s team would be a sanitized view of things. Before this last weekend, the specter of a zero point for these gentlemen floated dangerously above the tricolor heads. It would have been a first since 2009. So this title in the relay does everyone a lot of good. Antonin Guigonnat, Fabien Claude, Emilien Jacquelin and Quentin Fillon Maillet achieved what everyone thought was impossible: beat the untouchable Norway and his alien Johannes Boe.

Something special had to happen for another nation to look forward to winning gold on Saturday. That something was the wind. Dantesque, blowing in violent gusts, to the point that the decision to maintain the day’s races was only taken two hours before the start, he leveled the values ​​and transformed this race not only into a battle between teams, but also each athlete on himself. “It was a fightunderlined the first French torchbearer, Antonin Guigonnat. On the track, there was a strong headwind and I had to ask opponents to take over to be able to recover a little.”

Lucidity

But it is of course on the launch pad that the biathletes have known hell. They had prepared for it, but for many, lying down and, above all, standing up, turned into a nightmare. “I didn’t see any teams finish without going to the penalty ring“, confided Fabien Claude to the microphone of Eurosport. In fact, everyone turned. Once for the Blues, via Emilien Jacquelin in the third relay. Fortunately, in front of him, the machine Sturla Holm Laegreid had to go through the ring, too.

This victory is that of mastery. That of the France team was higher than that of the Norwegians. All of them struggled at one time or another with shooting. Including Johannes Boe on his bench, where, after missing three of his first five balls, he managed to get his three picks in. But the damage was done.

The Habs have always been in front and have always remained lucid, like Fabien Claude on his second shot: “On the stand, I was happy to settle in the middle of the pack (he arrived with the Swiss and the Czech in what was then the top three. Being in the middle was important, because it shelters a minimum. It was important not to be the last in your group, because the wind was coming from the left to the right. I had that in mind.”

They also had a little help from fate on the standing shot of the second stint. Fabien Claude shot in difficult conditions but for those who arrived just after the start of the Vosgien, the wind raged to turn into a storm. This is where they made an undoubtedly decisive break. “We had a bit of luck on that shot, but for me, they made a stint on offense and that’s what was needed today. They did not allow themselves to be demobilized in the face of the conditions“, underlines Sandrine Bailly, the consultant of Eurosport.

This title is therefore timely to erase, or at least mitigate, the disappointing set of these Worlds, and even this season. It is perhaps even more beautiful that it emanates from the relay, devoting everyone at the same time. “It is the victory of all French biathlonJudge Antonin Guigonnat. A real team result because we spend a lot of days together in the year to train.“

Émilien Jacquelin does not say anything else. The double pursuit world champion savors this collective dimension. “There is a real friendship between the athletes, we have a group that lives very well, he insists. This year, it may not have fared as we might have hoped, but precisely this medal shows that this team has a soul, it has a heart and all the energy of friendship has spoken today. We know very well that relays always have a special flavor. It rewards four athletes but when I see the joy of the two young people on the team, Eric and Oscar, that of the technicians, the staff, it’s the whole little world of French biathlon who is rewarded.”

The union has been strength for these more or less struggling individuals lately. “It’s like everythingcontinues Jacquelin, at the top level, there are some more difficult moments than others, but despite the bad weather in Oberhof, there are always rays of sunshine. You have to savor it, because it was a complicated Championship. But we hang on, we have this ability. We fought against ourselves and that’s how we’re going to look for things. This is perhaps what we have been missing since the start of the season, even on an individual level.“

This is the third planetary title for the men’s relay. The latest was fresh. It was in 2020, for Martin Fourcade’s final season. “It’s almost another generationselon Jacquelin. The title of Antholz rewarded the Martin Fourcade years, it had been 15 years at the time that we had not had gold in the relay of the World Championship. To do it almost as quickly behind, it’s a real pride. ” Even in the hard, the French biathlon has the resource.