On the contrary, Julia Simon - and the women's team in her wake - has risen higher than expected, winning the World Cup for the first time and crowning world champion in the pursuit.

The sad winter of the Blues is easily read in their results.

Throughout the season, they did not pocket a single individual victory in the World Cup, which had not happened for more than a quarter of a century (1997). They have only climbed on six individual podiums, twice with QFM, three with Emilien Jacquelin and once with the young Eric Perrot (21 years old).

In the general classification, the best Frenchman, who remains Fillon Maillet, is only in eighth place. He is followed by Fabien Claude, tenth. Jacquelin, "empty tank", shortened his season at the end of February.

Just before, at the Worlds in Oberhof (Germany), the Blues had not obtained any individual podium for the first time since 2009, then the first of Martin Fourcade, twenty years old at the time.

Bjoerndalen surprised

"I was very surprised by their results this year. They won the (men's) relay at the World Championships, that was extraordinary, but apart from that, it was very far from what was expected of them. Far from the level they could have had," said the legendary Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, who became a consultant for Norwegian TV.

"Our season is much better than some years where there was an individual victory but there was only that," said French biathlon director Stéphane Bouthiaux.

Beyond the results, the last week of the season in Oslo was the scene of a brutal and misunderstood break between the Blues and their coaches for five years, Vincent Vittoz and Patrick Favre.

"We were at the initiative", with the most experienced of the men's group, Jacquelin, Claude and Antonin Guigonnat, "it is a decision taken in unison" which "was very complicated to announce", explained Fillon Maillet Saturday.

"Today, we need a little change. This is something that has been carefully thought out. We do it knowing the repercussions," he justifies, evoking "a certain form of weariness" and "certain points of contention".

French torchbearers Oscar Lombardot, Antonin Guigonnat, Eric Perrot and Fabien Claude celebrate their silver medal in the 4x7.5 km at the Biathlon World Championships in Ostersund, Sweden, March 11, 2023. © Anders WIKLUND / TT NEWS AGENCY/AFP

"They fell from high because maybe we didn't make enough of this (need for) change (over the course of the season). We discussed it a lot between athletes, we tried to pass on certain messages to coaches that were not necessarily understood, "says the five-time Olympic medalist 2022.

"I hated the form"

"I hated the form. It wasn't cool at all about people who gave their lives for five years for them, Bouthiaux laments. There were other ways to do things, to say them."

Who now to take over?

For now, it's the unknown. "We will take the time to sit down and think to ensure that this team, which has great potential, starts again in the best way until the next Olympics (in 2026)," Bouthiaux replied. Athletes, if there are several possible choices, I will associate them with the choice. But there will always be a decision to be made in the end, and I will make it."

Far from these turbulences, Simon, the brilliant success of winter, already has in mind the perilous exercise of confirmation.

Julia Simon poses with the Biathlon World Cup Winner's Trophy, in Holmenkollen, Norway, March 18, 2023. © Javad Parsa / NTB / AFP

"It's nice to lift this globe, it's a great moment. But the hardest thing is to stay on top, she anticipates. It will be really difficult to confirm all this. The overall (ranking) was not my goal, I was hoping to be able to play it in the medium term, we will have to adapt, maybe, if I may say that, learn from Quentin's mistakes, at a higher level."

Fillon Maillet, precisely, knows this time that he "needs a big cut". "I have no choice, if I don't want to drag myself this fatigue X years. I will resume training when I am really ready mentally and physically to leave," promises the two-time reigning Olympic champion.

© 2023 AFP