Biathlon : Cyril Burdet “proud” of his athletes after the Grand-Bornand races
On Sunday, in the suspenseful closing mass-start of the biathlon World Cup in Le Grand-Bornand (Haute-Savoie), Jeanne Richard came very close to bringing the French women’s team one last podium finish after Justine Braisaz-Bouchet won the sprint and Julia Simon finished second in the pursuit.
Beaten by a tenth on the line, the Haut-Savoyard has nothing to be ashamed of in terms of her performance or her weekend as a whole, which saw her break new ground. Cyril Burdet, coach of the French team, talks to Nordic Magazine about his team’s four days of competition.
- Is there any frustration with Jeanne Richard just off the podium today?
As we speak, it’s obviously a disappointment to miss out on this podium in such a frustrating sprint. She had a great margin of manoeuvre coming out of the last shot and with what she showed at the start of the race, I was convinced she could get ahead of [Paulina Batovska] Fialkova. Looking back, it was a great week in Le Grand-Bornand for her with her two fourth places.

- What did you say to yourself as Jeanne Richard tackled the final shot in the lead?
I say to myself that we’ll see if she has character. The proof is in the pudding, she does [Laughs]! I knew she would. But imagining it and actually seeing it on the track is something else.
- The strength of character that you mentioned, your young athlete had already shown since the start of the winter…
Yes, but she’d never had the opportunity to do it to win. She’s the second youngster in the team after Océane [Michelon] also did it twice on a final shot. These are complicated situations that require a certain amount of composure. When I see that, I tell myself that we’ve still got some great talent in the team.

- How did you manage the Dantean conditions on the day?
We’ve been on the road for a month now and everyone is running out of steam. Today was quite difficult with the rain and snow making conditions extremely slow. We had to dig deep into our physical and mental resources. I’m very proud of the team because no one gave up. That was the most important thing.
“We’ve also had a very good start to the winter on the World Cup”.Cyril Burdet at Nordic Magazine
- How would you sum up your week?
At the end of this race, the assessment is inevitably tinged with a little disappointment because you always want more! But with a few hours’ rest, we’ll be satisfied. We’ve also had a very good start to the winter World Cup for the whole of the French team.
Read also
- Grand-Bornand: Franziska Preuss leaves Grand-Bornand with a comfortable overall lead
- Le Grand-Bornand: winner of the mass-start, Selina Grotian is Jeanne Richard’s new runner-up in the U23s
- Le Grand-Bornand: Selina Grotian wins her first World Cup mass start, Jeanne Richard beats her by a tenth for the podium
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