When Emilien Jacquelin talks about his memories of the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018, he immediately specifies that“participating in it was not then an objective, but a dream”. Member of the France B team, not yet playing on the World Cup circuit, the biathlete had made the trip to South Korea as a substitute. It will end up being aligned there on the test of the individual (77and) and on the men’s relay (5and), alongside Martin Fourcade, a tutelary figure in the discipline in France.
Four years later, as the XXIVand Winter Olympics in Beijing (until February 20), the situation has changed. The five-time Olympic champion has retired from sport, and Emilien Jacquelin – already adorned with silver with the mixed relay on Saturday February 5 – is among the contenders for an individual medal. However, even if he is currently second in the general classification of the World Cup, behind his compatriot Quentin Fillon Maillet, the biathlete remains plagued by doubts.
At the end of January, he thus skipped the closing race of the World Cup stage in Antholz (Italy), the last before the Olympic deadline. The reason ? A week earlier, in Ruhpolding (Germany), he had finished 53and sprint and 20and of the pursuit. “I felt tired. I fall back into my failing to question everythinghe summarized, a few days before flying to the Games. I still have to get over my doubts and my demons. What matters is to fight. »
Training now without Martin Fourcade
In Villard-de-Lans (Isère), where he grew up and still resides, we hope for no less. Haloed by two world titles in pursuit (2020, 2021), the child of the country is the local pride. A huge panel pays homage to the triumphant athlete, arm raised and stick in hand, installed on the edge of the road at the entrance to the town.
An honor that he is one of the few to have obtained in this city of Vercors whose local clubs have seen a string of champions pass by: the alpine skier Carole Montillet, Olympic champion in Salt Lake City (United States) in 2002 , the cross-country skier Robin Duvillard, bronze medalist in Sochi (Russia) in 2014, or the biathletes Marie Dorin – crowned in the mixed relay in Pyeongchang – and the brothers Simon and Martin Fourcade… “I forged myself hereinsists Emilien Jacquelin. Through my success, it’s a whole ecosystem that works well and that has made me at this level today, so I’m all the more grateful. »
At the end of October 2021, The world had joined him for one of his last days of preparation before he left for Norway to find sensations on snow, ahead of the Sjusjoen races, a traditional pre-season competition. At 9 a.m., he put on his roller skis in the car park of the bus station to go to the biathlon center, established a few kilometers away, in the heart of the Corrençon golf course: half an hour spent on the asphalt, among vehicles, punctuated by roundabouts and other “give way” signs.
Since Martin Fourcade put away the skis and the rifle, in March 2020, Emilien Jacquelin has been training alone. A situation that is sometimes difficult to manage, which he had, the day before, told his brother Clément: “When you don’t really want to or a session is complicated, you have someone who pulls you up. Martin was not in the intervention but, without saying so, he imposed a certain requirement. » When this “energy was dissipated all of a sudden”he went to draw on his reserves. “I tried to understand why I do this sport and what I am looking for in it”he confides.
“Overwhelmed by disappointment”
This questioning is a constant in the young man of 26 years, that his world titles have plunged into a kind of spleen. Surprised to have especially experienced ” relief “it took him a while to accept that what appeals to him is not so much the destination as the journey.
Emilien Jacquelin also works by clicks. The mass start of the world championships, at the end of February 2021, in Pokljuka, Slovenia, was one. A few days earlier, he had managed to retain his world pursuit title. But on February 21, 2021, he missed the five balls of his second prone shot and had to take five penalty laps when he was at the head of the race. He crosses the finish line in tears, 30and and last.
“Overwhelmed by disappointment”the follower of “strokes” – she motto has long been ” who dare win ” – decides then to become more regular, with in sight for this season the general classification. A fracture of the radius during the summer, due to a fall from a bicycle, forced him to revise his plans. He is refocusing on two objectives: the World Cup stage in Grand-Bornand (Haute-Savoie) and the Olympic Games.
At the end of October, Emilien Jacquelin’s left wrist had not yet regained all its mobility, and training was all the more complicated as strong gusts swept the firing point. Until noon, however, he chained shots standing, lying down, laps…
Paradoxically, the injury was a blessing. Wondering if he was going to be able to bounce back, the Isérois knew how to mobilize to thwart his predictions: five podiums, including one victory, and nine Top 10s in the fourteen individual races he has contested since the resumption of the season. He even offered himself the luxury of wearing the overall leader’s yellow bib.
“I realize that I am passing a milestone, that there are a lot of green lights. The last thing missing is trust.”he recognizes half-word. “Emilien is a whole athlete who needs his troughs as well as his peaks to express his potential”summarizes Martin Fourcade.
In China, Emilien Jacquelin will undoubtedly have another memory of 2018 in mind: that of the relaxation with which his ex-training partner approached his races – “the most important thing that[il ait] learned in Pyeongchang”.