Biathlon: Olympic sprint silver for Océane Michelon
Almost a year ago, Savoie biathlete Océane Michelon won the world silver medal in the mass start in Lenzerheide (Switzerland). Twelve months later, the Baujue is taking part in the Milan/Cortina 2026 Olympic Games in Antholz (Italy). At this venue, where she came for a training camp at the end of last summer, she has first had to eat her heart out over the last ten days.
Not lining up for the mixed relay and then the individual race, she took to the start of the day’s sprint with great enthusiasm. ” I was really looking forward to it,” she told France 2 afterwards. And what about her race? A mini-masterpiece with a 10/10 score for shooting and an incisive performance on cross-country skis.
After she stood up, it was easy to believe that Océane Michelon had won the race and would become the fourth French woman to be crowned Olympic champion. ” I believed in this first individual victory”, she also admits.
A difficult last kilometre that will undoubtedly cost him the Olympic title.
But Norway’s Maren Kirkeeide finished very strongly to take the gold medal with a lead of 3.8 seconds, while France’s Maren Kirkeeide crashed out slightly.
“I really struggled in the last kilometre,” she says with honesty and hindsight. I don’t think I had eaten enough before the start. I was very stressed this morning. Usually, I eat a dead donkey (sic), but here, nothing would pass. I may have had a little hypoglycaemia, but I pushed myself to the limit. It’s the first time I’ve thrown myself on the ground in a finish area.
In the last kilometre, I started to feel dizzy,” she continued on Eurosport. In the final straight, I was a bit out of it… but I felt so much happiness.
Océane Michelon was caught up in what she described as a “real mix of emotions”. I don’t think I realise it yet,” she admits. There was a moment at the finish when I said to myself: “Me, second? When I saw my family, the emotion just surged.
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