The relay compositions are in: all the leaders of the Blues will be lined up this Saturday, November 25 in Östersund (Sweden) for the opening of the Biathlon World Cup. Julia Simon and Fabien Claude will open the ball from 12:30 p.m. during the single mixed relay. Quentin Fillon Maillet, Émilien Jacquelin, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Lou Jeanmonnot will take to the track from 1:50 p.m.
Quentin Fillon Maillet and his friends hope to get back on track after a disappointing season, where they failed to achieve the slightest victory, a first since 1997. For this, they prepared their season with a new staff, Vincent Vittoz and Patrick Favre having given way to Simon Fourcade and Jean-Pierre Amat.
Émilien Jacquelin, who ended his season prematurely last year with his head in disarray, is ready to compete against the best including the Norwegian Johannes Boe. “The smile and the desire are present and just for that I feel grateful to all the people close or less who helped me find myself,” he wrote on social networks on the eve of his first start of the season.
Among women, eyes will inevitably be on Julia Simon. Winner of the big globe last season, synonymous with victory in the general classification, and two small globes, the mass start and the pursuit, the 27-year-old biathlete will have a hard time facing the Swedish armada, led by the sisters Oeberg. The Italian team will also be one to watch.
Braisaz-Bouchet returns after a maternity break
Above all, Julia Simon had a complicated summer, marked by the bank card fraud affair of which her teammate Justine Braisaz-Bouchet claims to be a victim. Until October, she trained alone, and apart from the rest of the French team. Placed in police custody at the end of October, she emerged free from her hearing. The judicial investigation continues.
Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, who was absent last season due to a maternity break, is making her return to competition. The Olympic champion in the mass start in Beijing in 2022 said she was “not worried about this winter”, where she hopes to find her best level. At his side, we will find Lou Jeanmonnot, author of a very good season last year with two individual podiums.
Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet having put away the skis, it is her little sister Chloé who will be the ones to follow on this World Cup circuit. After her best season last year with her first individual podium (a 2nd place in the Antholz-Anterselva sprint), the 28-year-old native of Saint-Martin-d’Hères (Isère), will be in search of regularity.
Around these four biathletes, we will find Sophie Chauveau, 24 years old and author of a promising debut last season, her first in the biathlon elite. Caroline Colombo, 20th overall at the end of winter 2023, suffers from neuropathy and gives way to Gilonne Guigonnat, 24 years old. The little sister of Antonin Guigonnat, selected for the men, will participate in his second World Cup stage after that in Oslo (Norway) at the end of last winter.
The French selection for Östersund (Sweden):
Women: Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, Sophie Chauveau, Chloé Chevalier, Gilonne Guigonnat, Lou Jeanmonnot, Julia Simon.
Men: Émilien Claude, Fabien Claude, Quentin Fillon Maillet, Antonin Guigonnat, Émilien Jacquelin, Éric Perrot.
