While the French women missed out on this Friday’s sprint, the 31-year-old Norwegian hangs a second gold medal around her neck.
White day for the French biathlon. The fourth race on the program for the Beijing 2022 Games, the women’s sprint (7.5 kilometers) turned into a collective sinking. Four Bleues at the start, four at the finish, but with mines beaten. The fault of a lack of precision on the firing point. Only one, Anaïs Bescond, in the top 10 (9th). The others sank. The most anticipated of the lot, Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet, silver medalist in the relay and in the 15 kilometers earlier in the competition, hit rock bottom (68th). The beautiful series of the French team in the biathlon stadium of Zhangjiakou – 3 medals in three races – comes to an end.
Norway, on the other hand, keep both feet on the accelerator. At the wheel of the truck, Marte Olsbu Roeiseland. Since the retirements of Martin Fourcade and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, the young woman with blond braids and chubby cheeks represents what is done best in the world in biathlon. Friday, on the sprint, she completed the case without a single shooting error. Precision mechanics. On the skis, she outdistanced the pack with manners of owner of the places. At the finish, a gap of 30.9 seconds over Sweden’s Elvira Oeberg, silver medalist. Sunday, in pursuit, the Norwegian will start with a half-minute lead. The gold medal is already reaching out to him.
A hated exercise
At the Beijing Games, Marte Olsbu Roeiseland enjoys a certain routine. A gold medal in the mixed relay for his entry into the competition. Then a bronze at 15 kilometers. And another gold in the sprint. She could walk up and down the podium with her eyes closed. She knows the height and contours by heart. At 31, his career as a biathlete has already given him a place in the legend of the snow. At the 2020 Worlds in Antholz-Anterselva, Italy, she achieved the stunning feat of winning a medal in each of her races. Seven starts, seven medals. Bluffing. At the end of the year, the daily jury the team made no mistake about it, designating her “champion of champions” world for 2020.
By his own admission, biathlon has not always been his cup of tea. When she started, at 14, in the family village of Froland, she even hated exercise. “It took me a good year to find interest in it,” she says. In high school, her motivation grew for a very unsporting reason: she wanted to leave the family home to fly on her own. Entering a class dedicated to skiing, in the town of Sirdal, offered him the opportunity. She ran without looking back.
Married to a biathlon coach, Marte Olsbu Roeiseland likes to explain with a humble air that she never had the ambition to collect titles and honors. “My driving force is not winning, but trying to progress a little more every day”, she explains. Truly ? After her third place in the 15 kilometers on Monday, she took her rifle back and spent three days working tirelessly on the shooting range to regain her precision. “The bronze medal disappointed me a bit,” she acknowledged. Terrible, indeed.