Biathlon: France’s top four finishers at the start of the season line up for the mixed relay at the world championships in Lenzerheide
Early on Tuesday afternoon, the French line-up for the opening mixed relay of the World Biathlon Championships in Lenzerheide (Switzerland) was unveiled. For this first event of the Swiss fortnight, in which Les Bleus are the title holders, the French staff decided to put their faith in Julia Simon, Lou Jeanmonnot, Eric Perrot and Emilien Jacquelin, in that order.
For the French coaches, however, it was a bit of a headache to put together this selection. “It was complicated because the boys all did excellent relays this year, admits Stéphane Bouthiaux, director of the French teams, speaking to La Chaîne L’Equipe. We decided to follow the sporting logic and took the overall World Cup ranking, where the two best-placed athletes were Eric [Perrot] and Emilien [Jacquelin].”
Respectively third and fourth overall, the Peiserot and the Villardien are without doubt the best Frenchmen at the start of this winter. “From a sporting point of view, it wasn’t very debatable, even if we know that Quentin [Fillon-Maillet] could well have had a place in this relay, like Fabien [Claude]. We had to make a choice, and we made it based on sporting logic,” added the Doubiste.
The same logic was followed by the women’s team, with Lou Jeanmonnot, ranked second in the world, and Julia Simon, fourth, the top two Frenchwomen in the world rankings ahead of this meeting in Grison.
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