In the end, it is always Johannes Boe who wins in Oberhof… and, this is the other highlight of this mixed single relay, Marte Olsbu Roeiseland has become the most successful female biathlete in history at the world championships (13). Like the Slovak cyclist Peter Sagan who innovated with each of his successes at the height of his career, the Norwegian invents winning mimics at the Worlds-2023. This time, he swept his forehead with a backhand, meaning he got a few scares at the last standing shot. Even with three pickaxes and a small turn on the penalty ring, the verdict is always nice for him. He says, still so relaxed: “This morning, Marte (Roeiseland) scared me a little because I looked at her and she shouted ‘are you ready?’” (he also shouts). And to engage on his famous second prone shot: “I shot faster than I was able, I wanted to maintain the gap with the others and finally I found myself behind. But as the penalty ring is smaller I told myself that it was still playable”. Of course it was. Of course the grand slam with a “golden seven” is getting closer.
But the film could have looked like a “comedia dell’arte” of the most beautiful effect if Tommaso Giacomel had not terribly tarnished the Italian painting, by shooting next to the Viking at the time of the epilogue. Italy (3rd), very prominent in Oberhof, suddenly let Norway slip away and the surprising Austria of Lisa Hauser and David Komatz.
Lou Jeanmonnot seals the entry relay
If Johannes Boe opened a door to an increasingly improbable victory “for the others”, and a tad Marte Olsbu Roeiseland at the start of the race, France, which had bet on the Vosges and Franche-Comté on this format, did not did not slip into the fault. The main fault, it must be admitted, is the usual excellent shooter Lou Jeanmonnot. The biathlete from Mont d’Or dropped three balls off the target, from the start, in lying shooting. “I’m really disappointed with my first stint, I think that’s why we couldn’t keep in touch with the lead today. I was heckled by the wind, then I forced myself and there was an accumulation of small beginner’s mistakes…”
“Lou, she blames herself a little too much […], she has already done a lot more 5 out of 5 than me in her life. I am not blameless either, especially on my standing shots, ”added the Vosgien kindly, definitely, never varnished on these Worlds-2023… In each of the four races in which he participated in Germany, a large grain of sand stopped the machine. “Despite everything, there was the possibility of returning to the podium, the Norwegians did it”. The last salvo of the Bassurois in “submachine gun” mode was nevertheless a form of swan song. But it was the only possible way out to hope for a tricolor miracle as a final clap.
