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Biathlon prodigy

Justine Braisaz-Bouchet (25) had a very early start at the highest level.

Upgraded in the youth categories, she was launched into the deep end of the World Cup in December 2014 at only 18 years old.

A month later, she won her first relay podium.

She will wait two seasons before experiencing the same joy on an individual level.

To taste victory on the circuit, she chose the ideal place, at home in front of the boiling hot public of Grand-Bornand in December 2017 (mass start).

But this exceptional potential and his extraordinary physical abilities will then be marred by a chronic irregularity in shooting.

The joy of the French Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, victorious in the mass-start, on December 17, 2017 at Le Grand Bornand JEAN-PIERRE CLATOT AFP / Archives

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A click this season

Thanks in particular to work carried out with a mental trainer, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet has gained in serenity this winter.

"It had been a while since I felt like I was doing great preparations but once in the World Cup, the results were far from my ambitions. I needed to see something else to have the full capacity to be at 100% on the races", she confided before the Games.

A paying approach since the Frenchwoman, more constant behind the rifle, returned to success just before the Olympics by winning the individual Anterselva, a third victory in the World Cup behind which she had been running for more than two years.

Seventh in the general classification of the World Cup this season, it is with the label of French N.1 that she landed in China,

like four years ago in Pyeongchang.

"Now I take race after race. I am my worst enemy and my best ally at the same time because I have the keys," she said before the Olympics.

Frenchwoman Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, on the shooting range during the mass-start at the Beijing Olympics, February 18, 2022 on the site of the national biathlon center in Zhangjiakou Christof STACHE AFP

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The tears of 2018 erased

Despite a bronze medal with the relay, the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018 were a real ordeal for Justine Braisaz-Bouchet on an individual level.

"Puffed up by the pressure", she had totally cracked in shooting (19 faults in four races) and it was with reddened eyes that she had completed the mass-start, the last solo event on the program.

"I feel exhausted, I need to cut," she breathed.

French biathlete Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, at the finish of the sprint at the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang (South Korea), February 10, 2018 FRANCK FIFE AFP / Archives

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Atypical character

A biathlete with an elusive personality, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet has always been difficult for her coaches to break through.

His inability to follow up after his first World Cup success and his unfathomable side even often annoyed internally.

Before the start of the Ostersund Worlds in 2019, the boss of French biathlon Stéphane Bouthiaux had scathing words about him: "Her sporting results stem from her way of being. She has to structure herself because if she stay like that, it's going to be complicated. It always feels like she's absent. When we talk to her, she listens, but I'm not sure she hears."

She knew how to bounce back perfectly by winning the bronze on the individual.

A summary of his career, made of roller coasters.

The joy of Frenchwoman Justine Braisaz, individual bronze medalist at the Biathlon Worlds, March 12, 2019 in Ostersund (Sweden) Jonathan NACKSTRAND AFP / Archives

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Attached to her native land

Daughter of Beaufort-producing farmers based in Hauteluce (Savoie), Justine Braisaz-Bouchet is very attached to her native land, where she takes refuge as soon as the circuit breaks.

She never hesitates to lend a hand, especially in summer to bring the cows up to the mountain pastures at an altitude of 2,000 metres.

The future Olympic champion first dabbled in alpine skiing at the age of 5 before quickly moving on to cross-country skiing, then finally opting for biathlon at 17.

On the study side, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet holds a Bac S. She continued with five months of LEA in Grenoble, before branching off into biology.

A great traveler, she was very marked by a solo humanitarian stay in Nepal in 2020.

© 2022 AFP