Biathlon: golden hat-trick and yellow bib for Justine Braisaz-Bouchet in Lenzerheide

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP 15:34 p.m., December 17, 2023

France's Justine Braisaz-Bouchet achieved an exceptional hat-trick this weekend at the Biathlon World Cup in Lenzerheide (Switzerland), with Sunday's mass start crowning to complete her haul after her successes in the sprint and pursuit. Thanks to her three victories in the space of four days in the Graubünden resort at altitude (1,400 metres), Justine Braisaz-Bouchet has taken the yellow bib of the World Cup leader.

Eighth career win

Such an individual hat-trick over a World Cup weekend is extremely rare, the last one was for Norway's Tiril Eckhoff in December 2019, during the French stage of Annecy/Le Grand-Bornand, in Haute-Savoie. "I don't realize. I don't realize it and maybe that's better. I preserve myself like this," commented the French biathlete during a press conference after the race.

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Absent last season to observe a maternity break, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet scored her seventh individual World Cup victory, in the Swiss Alps resort that will host the World Championships in February 2025. This is even the eighth career victory for the biathlete from Les Saisies, as she must be added to her gold medal in the mass start at the Beijing Olympic Games in February 2022.

A little blunted physically from the previous two races, she knew she wasn't as strong on skis, and she applied herself to shutout the 20 targets, taking a little more time for the last ball on the prone shot. "It's the game of the mass start as well, knowing how to use the opponents on the track to manage my effort," admitted Justine Braisaz-Bouchet. She entered the shooting range for the final five rounds of the standing shot with a lead of about 17 seconds over the competition, and came out with a 2-second margin over sisters Elvira and Hanna Oeberg, who tried in vain to come back on the final 5.<>km loop.

Yellow bib "anecdotal" at this stage

"The last lap I struggled to accelerate, but I was able to stay calm on the track. I know the mass start, I know the game. I really like this mass start format, because it leaves little room for thought and a lot for action. That's what helped me get into this race," she said. After a third of the season (8 races out of 21), she has a ten-point lead over Norway's Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold (427 to 417), fifth on Sunday, in the overall World Cup standings, and will spend the end of the year in yellow.

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"Since the beginning of my career, the yellow bib has been a dream. Only the best biathletes have ever won a big crystal globe. It's the cream of the crop," says "JBB." "I had a great weekend, three wins in a row. I'm happy to wear the yellow bib and go to Christmas with it. Today, it's anecdotal, it will make a lot more sense at the end of February or the beginning of March," she adds.

In January, the biathletes will head to Germany for the stages in Oberhof (4-7) and Ruhpolding (10-14), before heading north of Italy to Antholz (18-21). The opportunity for the France women's team to confirm its excellent start to the season (five victories in the first eight individual races), before going to Nove Mesto in the Czech Republic for the Worlds from 7 to 18 February.