Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, the new queen of mass-start biathlon that no one saw coming

From our special correspondent in Zhangjiakou,

The assholes, but the assholes… We should have seen it coming, because it’s just Justine Braisaz-Bouchet. Unpredictable, “capable of the best and the worst, a UFO”, according to Martin Fourcade, after the race, on Eurosport. By choosing this Friday to leave the biathlon a bit – because we thought it was average for a podium for the girls and a sixth QFM medal, well, it’s nice but it’s starting to get boring – to go see the team de France de skicross, we missed one of the great moments of these Olympic Games.

Justine Braisaz-Bouchet’s gold medal, just that! Our truffle dog flair struck again… So, after the skicross fiasco (four Frenchmen in the running and not one to slip into the final), we rushed headlong to arrive in time to see her in the mixed zone. Buried under a swarm of journalists, the skier from Les Saisines had barely returned.

“When did I realize I was an Olympic champion? When I said it for the first time just now. And it really brought tears to my eyes, she says. Afterwards, what touched me the most was seeing the staff in the finish area with tears in their eyes. And more particularly our shooting coach, I was very happy for him because, yesterday, Anaïs Bescond said to me with a smile: “It’s probably Paulo’s last race at the Olympics. Let’s make sure there is as much of tipping white pallets”. »

A very cold version of the climb

And yet, they took a long time to switch, these damn pallets. The fault of three failures in lying down which will put her 1’14” from the head of the race. “I made gifts, clearly, because the conditions [de vent] were correct, she concedes. So, I wanted to stop that, I said to myself: “Ok, I’ll stop giving gifts now” and I sat on the stand, thinking only of my performance. This is where the miracle took place. A few months ago, she explained to us that she liked this relationship by face to face with the paddles: “You have to tell yourself that shooting is a duel with the target. And hide the result behind. It’s a game, almost. The notion of pleasure is total in this approach. »

???????? Huge!! Far from the lead before the first standing shot, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet was able to tame the gusts of wind to catch up! ???? #Biathlon #Beijing2022

▶️ Follow the live: https://t.co/yYk03TgPjb pic.twitter.com/pwz7D2dnE1

— francetvsport (@francetvsport) February 18, 2022

So that’s what she did. When all her competitors had the misfortune to eat gusts and go for tricks on the ring, the Frenchwoman took advantage of a slightly more favorable shooting window to seize her chance and launch the most beautiful comeback of his career. The rest, she tells it better than us. “I moved to number 7 and I said to myself: “Okay, it’s time”. Each time, the pallets tipped over. I took bullet by bullet, I wanted to build it properly. The barrel moved a lot because of the wind but it tipped. It was shots without hesitation, I let it happen. Let my automatisms do what I worked for for years. She continues:

Knowing how to put the brain on the firing line is the best thing to do in biathlon. And behind, Marte [Roiseland] didn’t follow me on the ski, I said to myself: “Well, I’m not going to wait for him”

And that’s how we go from the bottom of the rankings to leader, with a fourth shot to manage to go write history. His history. “Coming to the last shot, she describes, I tell myself that I had everything to gain. Let’s go, who knows what will happen behind, whatever. Even with that first ball coming out and going really far to the right, I was very, very calm. Coming out 48 seconds ahead of Eckhoff, second, victory could no longer escape her.

Morning jogging heralds a good day

But whoever knows the beast a little knows that with her, nothing is ever won. A story of lack of confidence, of a brain that runs at 12,000 and often plays tricks on him. “He is an extremely endearing personality, who asks himself a lot of questions, who thinks a lot,” explained Martin Fourcade after the race. “In the last lap, I tell myself that if I was caught up, it was awful, disaster scenario, she smiles in the mixed zone. Because I like to be a little pessimistic sometimes! »

If she willingly concedes that she happened to “completely miss out” on her races (no later than at the start of the Olympics), it was written that this Friday would be different. In the morning, the Savoyard is convinced. “While going for a jog before the competition, I felt that I was just happy to do this mass-start, I realized how incredibly lucky I was to be at the Games and that everything was open, rewind-t -she. I said to myself: “It’s time, it’s time Justine!”. ” Just before slipping away from the press room, remembering her crossing the finish line with the French team flag in her hand, Braisza-Bouchet finally seems to realize: “I am an Olympic champion in the mass-start and it’s fucking cool! “. Not better.