French biathlete Julia Simon will conclude the mixed relay this Sunday for the 2026 Olympics. She will be preceded by Eric Perrot, Quentin Fillon Maillet then Lou Jeanmonnot.
Julia Simon, preferred to Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, will conclude the French mixed relay on Sunday, the first of 11 biathlon events on the program for the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Games, in Anterselva (Italy), the French Olympic Committee (CNOSF) announced on Thursday.
Leader of the men’s World Cup, Eric Perrot will launch the French mixed relay (4×6 km), followed by Quentin Fillon Maillet (double Olympic champion in Beijing in 2022), then Lou Jeanmonnot, currently leading the Women’s World Cup. For the last torchbearer, the French staff decided to line up Julia Simon rather than Justine Braisaz-Bouchet.
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With their «Dream Team»the French, who aim to get on the podium in each race, will start as favorites for gold alongside the Italians, Swedes and Norwegians.
The only uncertainty concerned the identity of the second biathlete, between Simon and Braisaz-Bouchet. Each had won a race in Nove Mesto at the end of January during the last stage before the Olympics: the individual race for “JBB”and the mass start for Julia Simon.
Simon’s direct confrontation victory in mass start confirmed the French management in their choice.
Suspension in November
Simon was sentenced in the fall to a three-month suspended prison sentence for theft and bank card fraud, after admitting to using the credit card of Braisaz-Bouchet and a physiotherapist from the France team on several occasions.
Suspended for a month in November, Simon gradually returned to her level during the season, considering herself “on time” to get a first individual medal at the Olympics, she who is the most successful French biathlete at the Worlds (10, including 4 in individual races).
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“The composition was refined as the season progressed. But in the end, it flows a bit naturally. We have the two leaders in the general classification of the World Cup, we have Quentin who is fifth overall and who has rarely failed in a relay. It has great relay reliability. We know Julia’s finishing qualities. This relay composition was imposed almost naturally”estimated the boss of French biathlon Stéphane Bouthiaux, Thursday in the mixed zone.
The French won gold in the mixed relay at the Games in 2018 (Marie Dorin Habert, Anaïs Bescond, Simon Desthieux, Martin Fourcade) and took silver four years later in Beijing (Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet, Julia Simon, Émilien Jacquelin, Quentin Fillon Maillet). They are double reigning mixed relay world champions (2024 and 2025), in different compositions.
