After turbulent weeks
French biathlete opens up about the mood in the team
November 30, 2025 – 11:00 a.mReading time: 1 min.
The French biathlon team has not calmed down recently. Nevertheless, the season was convincing. Now a top performer spoke.
The French women’s biathlon team has faced several turbulences in recent weeks. The verdict for ten-time world champion Julia Simon because of the credit card affair was first announced. Then there were rumors of a tampered with rifle. Jeanne Richard was the focus.
Now Justine Braisaz-Bouchet spoke about the mood in the team. She told Swedish broadcaster SVT after winning the 4×6 kilometer relay in Östersund on Saturday: “It’s not important to be friends when you compete. That’s not important. You can perform and respect each other without being friends, that’s not a problem.”
She then added: “I don’t want to speak for others, but I do my best to respect everyone when we’re in the arena – and I think I do that. Outside the arena, I only spend my time with positive people and my family.”
The fact that the French women took first place in the relay on Saturday shows how much the team was able to ignore what had recently happened. That’s why biathlon icon Martin Fourcade recently praised the French team.
He said at the “Les Étoiles du Sport” event: “I think that the group has maintained its unity despite all these shocks.” He emphasized that “many teams” would have been “broken” by something like that, but not the French team.