Biathlon: Martin Fourcade ends a champion's career in style

Ten years after his first World Cup victory in Kontiolahti, Finland, Martin Fourcade won the 83rd and last of his career, Saturday March 14, on the same circuit. The French biathlete won the pursuit in front of two other Frenchmen, Quentin Fillon-Maillet and Emilien Jacquelin, but he did not manage to reverse the situation in the general classification, finishing 2nd in the World Cup behind the Norwegian Johannes Boe, winner of the big crystal globe for the 2nd consecutive year.

Martin Fourcade wins as patron the last race of his career with a French hat-trick! 🇫🇷💪

THANK YOU MARTIN, THANK YOU QUENTIN, THANK YOU EMILIAN! #lequipeBIATHLON pic.twitter.com/wEB7ZIoWyx

The five-time Olympic champion (31) announced Friday the end of his career at the end of this race. The season was originally scheduled to end in Oslo from March 20-22, but the three races scheduled in Norway have been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"Thank you for this trip"

"My will to give the best of myself and to climb mountains is always present but the continuation of my construction as a man, as a father, must now go through other ways, other supports d "expression (...). It's time to say goodbye. Thanks for the trip," Fourcade wrote in a statement on Friday.

Thanks for the journey 💙
Time to say goodbye. pic.twitter.com/TOU7uQpW84

After a nightmarish 2018-2019 season, he managed to come back to the fore in an attempt to challenge the dominance of Johannes Boe. Even if the 26-year-old Norwegian has been an exemplary regularity this season (10 wins), Fourcade will have resisted him to the end, ending the winter on a total of seven successes, with the bonus of two new gold medals worldwide (Individual, relay). Fourcade has not won an 8th big crystal globe, but it leaves with its head held high, boasting an exceptional track record.

The most successful French sportsman at the Olympic Games (5 gold medals), he has the record for the number of World Cups won (7 in a row from 2012 to 2018), small globes (26) and world titles (11 on an individual level, tied with the Norwegian Ole-Einar Bjoerndalen).

1 - Martin Fourcade 🇫🇷 in career:

5 Olympic titles - record for a French athlete all Olympic Games combined
7 large crystal globes - record
11 individual world champion titles - co-record
82 World Cup victories - 2nd best total

Legendary. 🏆🥇 @martinfkde pic.twitter.com/MTpmR5mNpi

"Unbroken Passion"

The native of Céret (Pyrénées-Orientales) also knew how to use his charisma and a whole character to impose himself, with a sharp look on the world of sport and current events. A cocktail that prompted French athletes to acclaim it as the standard bearer of the tricolor delegation in Pyeongchang.

He notably publicly supported the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to suspend Russia from the 2018 Olympics, not hesitating to target a country where it has always been very popular. In 2017, the man with 82 career successes had already caused great tension with the Russians at the World Championships after pointing his finger at social networks Alexander Loginov, returned from a suspension for doping. The Russians then refused to shake his hand on the mixed relay podium.

Very active on social networks, he turned into a luxury VRP in biathlon, popularizing a rather confidential discipline in France before it hatched. His book, "My dream of gold and snow", where he tells his story, a kind of "psychoanalysis", in his own words, has sold more than 30,000 copies and has been translated in all bastions of world biathlon.

"I leave serene" - Martin Fourcade

Here is the front page of March 14, 2020. pic.twitter.com/ZV3nStGRvg

His post-career is already traced since he chairs the Athletes 'Commission of Paris-2024 and he applied for the IOC Athletes' Commission in 2022. What he suggests in his farewell message: "The passion I dedicate to my sport is intact. My love for sport in general, and the values ​​of transcendence and respect for others that it transmits, is greater than ever. It is in this universe that I want to continue to express myself, to invest myself, to share. "

With AFP

The France 24 week summary invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

Download the app