But why are biathletes picking it up at these Worlds?

Relaxed features, smile, Anaïs Bescond savored his bronze medal on Thursday in the single mixed relay of the Worlds alongside Emilien Jacquelin. To admit it all, we thought that this first charm for the French women's team would never happen in view of the previous races. A mixed relay sealed by Julia Simon and Justine Braisaz (a fault and eight picks for a 7th place final), a very disappointing sprint leading to a scarcely better pursuit, and especially an individual of the apocalypse with only one Frenchwoman in the top 20 ( Braisaz, 19th). In short, total depression. “I'm in a bad patch, admitted Julia Simon at the microphone of La chain L'Equipe after the sprint. These are things that happen. You just have to raise your head and I will come out stronger ... ”

Therein lies the problem. Apart from Bescond, who can still say thank you to Jacquelin for his last miraculous stint, neither of the two Juju nor Célia Aymonier have so far managed to get their heads out of the bucket. But why are French women in biathlon so busy at the moment? To help us solve the equation, we called on Marin Dorin, consultant for La Chaîne L'Equipe and Sandrine Bailly, consultant for Eurosport. Two renowned former biathletes who know how to snap world medals since they have 25 of them together.

This gold medal is really not like the others, for Fourcade via @ 20minutesSport https://t.co/DBHS7vN60Q

It's the big cat on the launch pad

No big Denise Herrmann locomotive in the French ranks, but excellent skiing times just like Justine Braisaz. The problem of our biathletes comes exclusively from the shooting range. Taking into account only the three individual races, our two worst shooters, Simon and Braisaz, have 14 faults, or a little more than 4.6 per race on average. Needless to say, with that, you're not going anywhere.

Marie Dorin: “The shooting level of the French women is very random and it gives a huge feeling of frustration. We know that they have the potential to do much better, in any case they are not limited by their time in skiing. But there is a fragility in shooting and I, I have the feeling that when they find themselves facing a target, there are a lot of questions that cross their minds. "

Emotional and structural instability

Nothing is invented by saying that at this level of training and practice, such a failure in shooting is a psychological matter. Girls have entered a vicious circle from which it is difficult to escape. But structurally, there is also criticism: in three years, they have known three different shooting coaches. When you know that the Norwegian men's team has taken a long season to adapt to the methods of Siegfried Mazet, one wonders if all these changes are reasonable.

Marie Dorin: “A change of coach is a change of speech. Next, the athlete must be able to sort through what is said and improve all the speeches a little, know what is good for him, put aside what does not seem appropriate to him… I think they have confidence in their coaches, that they are working in the right direction but that at the moment, the spiral is complicated. One bad shot calls another bad shot and they have a hard time getting out of this. "

Sandrine Bailly: “They changed coaches for different reasons. The first time was Jean-Paul Jaquinot, who had been in place for a long time and whose discourse was starting to become redundant. Maybe there was a need for something new. Then there was Vincent Poret, who suddenly had a speech that did not necessarily correspond to them. And there, there is Franck (Badiou) who is very much in technique and analysis. "

A team is missing a leader

Since Marie Dorin's retirement two years ago, this women's team has lacked one size, one leader. A person capable of consistency in results, of pulling the group up when nothing is going straight and of absorbing the pressure in crisis situations. A Martin Fourcade with a more human dimension, less extraterrestrial, would be enough. Today, we have the feeling of having four athletes at the bottom of the hole with no one up there to hand them a pole.

Marie Dorin: “Within the group, there is not really a leader in shooting and when I speak of leader, I do not mean the charismatic level. We always draw inspiration from the best in training. If the best is someone who shoots less well, we allow ourselves to shoot less. If the best becomes someone who shoots incredibly well like Martin, you get used to not letting go. Maybe that's what they're missing, an additional requirement that would keep them from missing a ball. "

Sandrine Bailly: “The small concern of this French team is that there is not necessarily a leader. Where in the men, we have Martin who is the umbrella, the one we will watch no matter what. Even if it's a rotten season, who are we waiting for? It's Martin. Who are we questioning? It's Martin. It is the lightning rod, it allowed the other boys to increase in power as it should. There, the girls that we expect, they are the youngest finally. So, they have to come to terms with this phenomenon. "

How to get out of this impasse?

By winning. Anaïs Bescond may have opened a loophole with the simple mixed relay. Two races remain before the end of the Worlds. The relay and the mass start. On both formats, the French have assets to assert. On the condition of getting back in the right direction by then.

Sandrine Bailly: “Something must be created in this women's relay, because they all have something to catch up on, and it's still very nice to try to restart the machine together. I just hope it doesn't do the opposite. That they take it on the bright side without saying "oh la, la, we no longer have the right to make mistakes, we must at all costs that we make the medal" and that it trots in a negative way, when in fact, it will just play this relay and believe in it to the end. "

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