Biathlon: Justine Braisaz-Bouchet wins again in Lenzerheide… and becomes world sprint champion
Justine Braisaz-Bouchet feels right at homeon the Roland Arena in Lenzerheide , Switzerland. Winner of the three World Cup races organised from December 2023 as a dress rehearsal for the World Championships, the Savoyard arrived in Switzerland at the beginning of February with no confidence and no reference points.
But Justine Braisaz-Bouchet is a woman for big events. The reigning Olympic and world champion in the mass start transforms herself when it counts. After winning silver last winter in the World Championship sprint with a fabulous quadruple in Nove Mesto (Czech Republic), the sportswoman from Les Saisies (Savoie) did even better this Friday afternoon in Lenzerheide.
Backed by a fourth consecutive victory at this Helvetian venue, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet started with bib number 68, the umpteenth and final favourite on the start list. “She has to dare to go for it! It’s a big step into the unknown, but she’s already done it. That’s the thing about biathlon: you always feel like a beginner. She knows what she has to do and I hope she’ll show us that she’s back to shooting,” explained Delphyne Burlet in our columns a few days ago.
A crazy last lap to go for gold
To become world sprint champion, the Frenchwoman showed that she was back behind her rifle. Although she missed a shot on the prone, the very first, a few minutes later she shot a magnificent 5/5 on the standing. Enough to leave the shooting range 2.9 seconds behind Franziska Presus (9/10).
As if in her own shoes on the difficult Lenzerheide track, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet completed a crazy final loop to cross the finish line 9.8 seconds clear of her German rival, who had to settle for silver a breath ahead of Suvi Minkkinen (10/10) and Lena Haecki-Gross (10/10), who was unfortunate to finish fourth on home soil.
A year after Julia Simon‘s triumph, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, another girl from Les Saisies, became world sprint champion. She is also the fifth Frenchwoman to achieve this feat, following in the footsteps of Anne Briand (1995), Sylvie Becaert (2003), Marie Dorin-Habert (2015) and Julia Simon (2024). All under the watchful eyes of her husband Julien Bouchet and daughter Côme.
Lou Jeanmonnot, Julia Simon… and Maya Cloetens in the top 10
Italy’s Michela Carrara (9/10) took fifth place, while Lou Jeanmonnot (8/10), in sixth place, closed the flower ceremony.
Julia Simon (8/10), wearing her gold bib, is seventh, Maya Cloetens (10/10) exceptional eighth for Belgium, Ella Halvarsson (8/10) ninth and Elvira Oeberg (8/10) tenth.
Among the other Frenchwomen, Océane Michelon (7/10) from Savoie finished twelfth and Jeanne Richard (8/10) twenty-eighth.
WORLD CHAMPION 🌍
🥇 Justine Braisaz-Bouchet pic.twitter.com/R6bre3k7oe– FFS – Fédération Française de Ski (@FedFranceSki) February 14, 2025
Full results
- The full programme for the World Championships in Lenzerheide, the highlight of the 2024/2025 season
- Léna Arnaud: my best memory of… Lenzerheide
- Swiss biathlete Arnaud Du Pasquier presents the Roland Arena, the Lenzerheide stadium used for the 2025 World Championships
- Delphyne Burlet on the challenges of the Lenzerheide world championships
- Two of the four reigning world champions have been retained: the French mixed relay line-up for Wednesday’s opening round of the World Championships in Lenzerheide.
- “We decided to follow the sporting logic”: Stéphane Bouthiaux explains how the French mixed relay team for the World Championships in Lenzerheide was put together.
- Quentin Fillon-Maillet annoyed at being sidelined in the mixed relay at the world championships in Lenzerheide: “I thought I deserved more consideration from the staff”.
- “We’re aiming for the title”: one year after their triumph in Nove Mesto, France will attempt to make it two in a row in the mixed relay at the World Championships in Lenzerheide.
- Mixed relay in Lenzerheide: the first day on which Johannes Thingnes Boe could become the most successful biathlete in the history of the World Championships
- Lenzerheide: France, with Julia Simon, Lou Jeanmonnot, Eric Perrot and Emilien Jacquelin, retain their world mixed relay title
- “We couldn’t have got off to a better start than this”: the perfect start for the French team, which won gold in the mixed relay at the world championships in Lenzerheide.
- “I don’t feel like I made a mistake”: Julia Simon recounts her collision with Sweden’s Anna Magnusson during the mixed relay in Lenzerheide
- Julia Simon and Sebastian Samuelsson crashed, Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold and Hanna Oeberg failed to shoot: an opening mixed relay full of twists and turns in Lenzerheide
- Lenzerheide: Czech Republic surprise silver medallists in mixed relay
- Lenzerheide: seventh in the mixed relay with Lukas Hofer and Tommaso Giacomel, Italy’s Hannah Auchentaller and Dorothea Wierer battled it out on the difficult Swiss track
- “It was fun”: during the mixed relay at the World Championships in Lenzerheide, Britain’s Shawna Pendry was surprised to ski with her idol Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold.
- Lenzerheide: the day after her fall in the mixed relay, Julia Simon did not take part in the day’s official training session
- One year after the unthinkable quadruple in Nove Mesto, the French put their world sprint medals back on the line
- Lenzerheide: why can five French women take part in the World Championship sprint?
- A prestigious, distinctive number for Julia Simon in the sprint and pursuit at the Lenzerheide World Championships
- “I’ll be ready by 3 p.m.”: on the morning of the Lenzerheide World Championship sprint and two days after her fall, Julia Simon is reassuring.
- Lenzerheide : Lucie Charvatova, at the start of the sprint five years after her surprising bronze medal in Antholz
