Fabien Claude found the light behind the rifle.
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Sputnik / SIPA
The fourth stage of the Biathlon World Cup starts this Thursday with the men's sprint (2.15 p.m.).
Within the France team, Fabien Claude is emerging at the highest level at the start of the season.
Fast on skis, the Vosges has worked hard to - finally - play with the best in the world on a regular basis.
To be honest, we didn't expect him to be the one to give us our first emotions in this biathlon season.
In a French team orphaned by its boss Martin Fourcade, we relied more on Quentin Fillon Maillet or Emilien Jacquelin, the two new natural leaders of the Blues, who had not hidden behind their little finger when announcing their ambitions.
But no, it was finally Fabien Claude, 26 years old in a few days and a full-time member of the World Cup group since last season only, who lit the fuse last week at Kontiolahti.
After a collectively disappointing first weekend in Finland, he won the first podium for the Blues in the pursuit.
And putting it the way, please.
Starting 11th, he left the competition on the edge of the track before dropping boss Johannes Boe and new Norwegian terror Sturla Holm Laegreid on the last lap, to go for a resounding second place.
His best career result.
Quite a surprise.
Well, except for those who have been dissecting races for a few years.
"It is not really one, because we saw it coming for one or two years anyway, exposes Alexis Boeuf, former member of the France team and consultant for the channel L'Equipe.
He has been very fast since arriving on the circuit, and over the past two seasons he has often been among the best ski times.
But he's an athlete who struggled to line up targets, to shoot well enough to hope for anything.
"
A quick glance at the statistics tab of the International Federation's website is enough to confirm this.
Out of a little less than 150 races listed from the youth categories, Fabien Claude has only four clears, including only one in a 20-ball exercise (in Pokljuka last season, we'll talk about it again).
He's not the only biathlete in this case, of course.
The accuracy behind the rifle is the hardest thing to acquire.
And more fragile.
But the Vosges was still a tone below average.
“I think he really had trouble understanding this aspect,” says Alexis Boeuf.
Shooting in biathlon can be pretty hit and miss, even the best can have slumps, but for him it was really something he had a hard time mastering.
He took a long time to understand.
I do not know how he did it, in any case he is making great progress.
"
The "shooting project"
To find out, let's turn to Patrick Favre.
The Italian is entering his third season as the boys' shooting coach.
Joined with Hochfilzen, he tells us about the evolution of Fabien Claude on the shooting range.
“The first year, we tried to put in place all the technical part, the position, all these little details.
Then we tackled the hardest part for him, which is the emotional aspect.
These are more difficult things that cannot be fixed overnight, he explains.
He really has this desire to get there, to do well, but that makes things even more difficult sometimes.
I'm happy with what he's doing today.
It took him a while to get into it.
"
Very good, but in detail?
What do we put in place with a biathlete so that he arrives on the released firing point, without asking thousands of parasitic questions?
“I'm not Merlin, I don't have a magic recipe,” laughs Patrick Favre.
Before developing:
We set up a real project with him.
A process to follow, personal, to help him.
Because technically, no problem, he's very good.
Afterwards, it's the stress of the race, the desire to do well, which for him is a trap.
You have to occupy your mind with a diagram or an idea, it occupies it and so it stays in very simple things.
"
As always, the transition from theory to practice is not easy.
“In training, he's been doing great things for two summers.
We're a good group, with a high level, and they keep up with the pace very well.
But he still struggled to materialize, continues the coach.
There was always something missing, and he started to think to himself "as soon as it counts, it doesn't fit".
It is a problem of lucidity, of presence, of remaining in this pattern that we have decided together.
Often he would start well and then he would give up.
Today he is a little quieter.
His first podium last season helped him a lot.
"
The disappearance of his father
Pokljuka, so we come back to it.
Last January, Fabien Claude and his brother Florent (29), who is racing for the Belgian team, learned that their father Gilles was part of a group of eight people missing after a snowmobile accident in Canada.
The two brothers decide despite everything to take the start of the individual, scheduled the next day.
The youngest won his very first career podium, behind the untouchables Johannes Boe and Martin Fourcade, with a 20/20 behind the rifle.
We will not give you the click of a button that comes with special circumstances.
Because that's not how it works, and then because behind, he was quickly back down far from the top 10. Simply, he expressed that day the totality of his potential.
A good base to work even more in the offseason.
In this area, he is not the last.
"I would like to have 10 like him," greets Favre.
He is still inside, present, not once has he not wanted to.
He always applies 100% to get there, and that for me is the essential element to succeed.
"
Fabien Claude has a thought for his father with each completed race.
- Antti Aimo-Koivisto / Lehtikuva / AFP
The “shooting project” is gaining ground.
At the start of the season, Fabien Claude is finally regular.
It had started in a catastrophic way in Finland, however, with a disastrous 72nd place in the individual - 7 (!) Shooting faults - followed by a little more glorious 25th place in the sprint (7/10).
But after his second place in Kontiolahti, he finished third in the Hochfilzen sprint and fifth in the crushed chase by QFM and Jacquelin last weekend.
"If he only leaves with the desire to refuel, he will not do so"
“I'm really happy with what I've built in shooting, it's all good for the future,” he said after this race.
There is always something to improve.
When I see the others shoot 20 out of 20, it makes you want to.
I have to apply myself a little more.
"" He's a great talent.
He really has great physical potential, I now wish him to understand his shooting even better so that he can express himself at his best level, adds Alexis Bœuf.
The relay from Hochfilzen [last Saturday], where he has to draw several times on his standing but where he avoids the penalty ring, shows that he has raised his basic level.
The difference is really there for me.
"
#Biathlon
A second podium today in Hochfilzen for Fabien Claude to be found on the cover of the new Nordic Magazine ⬇https: //t.co/NIDaYidaQe pic.twitter.com/QTQ28Kkt3U
- Nordic Magazine (@NordicMag) December 11, 2020
Getting into the top 10 in each race is now Fabien Claude's mission.
But the best way to do it… is not to think about it.
Patrick Favre on reminder: “The shot also depends on the ski, the way you get on the mat, etc.
It is a sum of details to find the balance.
He must stay on his qualities and take care of his pattern.
If he only leaves with the urge to refuel, he won't.
But that he knows very well.
If he doesn't get lost, he can play with the best every time.
"
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Biathlon: "This podium is for him", Fabien Claude pays tribute to his father who died in Quebec in the snowmobile accident
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