– She was scared, says France’s women’s national team coach Cyril Burdet about the conversation he had with Richard about what happened in Friday’s sprint in Hochfilzen. In the standing shooting series, the 22-year-old shot four hits and one miss. In a biathlon sprint, all you have to do is put on your rifle and go through one penalty round. Jeanne Richard did not. FRESH: Richard made her World Cup debut in 2024. Photo: TOBIAS SCHWARZ / AFP The TV images show her retiring five times. Then Richard puts in an extra shot, before she fires the sixth shot, instead of going straight into the penalty round. It was missed, and with one round, Richard was finally number 35. – This is unheard of and something I have not seen before, says news and TV 2’s biathlon commentator Ole Kristian Stoltenberg. – A bit unbelievable – It was a bit unbelievable what happened, but after seeing it a few times it looks like six shots. It’s never something I’ve done myself, anyway. I wonder what she was thinking when she did it, because I don’t suspect her of cheating, says news’s biathlon expert Marte Olsbu Røiseland. At the start of the hunt on Saturday, Richard moved up to 14th place. After the race, news asked for an interview with the French athlete, to get an answer to what happened. She didn’t want that. Instead, national team coach Burdet explains. – It was a strange situation. When she fired the third shot, she thought it was a bad cartridge that didn’t fire. Then she used an extra shot, because she thought there was something wrong, he says. For the record: It is only in relays that it is permitted to use extra shots in biathlon. – Never seen it before The biathlon shooters have five shots in each magazine on the weapon, but on individual starts where there are no extra shots you still have a few extra shots in the stock, in case you get a click shot or something happens, then you have it in reserve. news’s expert confirms that athletes are taught that there are only five shots in a sprint. – I have never seen it before, and never heard of it. EXTRA SHOTS: Richard was number 35 in the sprint, with one extra shot. Photo: KERSTIN JOENSSON / AFP Nor has Stoltenberg. – If Richard thought a shot didn’t work, then it doesn’t help. As long as a shot is fired, it counts. Fair play then would have been to notify about it, believes the biathlon commentator. – Human error The International Biathlon Union was only made aware of the incident on Friday evening. IBU’s sports director Daniel Böhm says that the jury looked at the incident early on Saturday morning, where they considered whether Richard should receive a penalty or not. – Apparently six shots were fired, but it is visible that the third shot was not fired in the usual way, in that the sound was lower and it did not hit the flash. Then it becomes a question of definition about misfire, which is “misfire” in English. It says that a misfire can be replaced with another bullet, and that’s how the French have interpreted it, Böhm explains to news. In Norwegian, the biathlon expression is piffskudt, which means that it is shot with a cartridge without gunpowder. – Why wasn’t it discovered during the race? SPORTS DIRECTOR: German Daniel Böhm. Photo: Anders Boine Verstad / news – I would say that is a human error. No one saw it in the stands, where there is a lot going on, but fortunately we had the pictures that showed what happened, replies the IBU’s sports director. Must change the rules The maneuver is so unusual that it is therefore not specified, explains the IBU. – Since it is not crystal clear what is written in the regulations, the IBU will clarify the rules to the effect that a shot is not a shot at all. It doesn’t say that now, so the jury has decided in favor of the athlete here, and asked us to clarify the regulations, he continues. – At least I haven’t seen this before, to be honest. Fortunately, we have many cameras that can pick up such things, but they are not everywhere, so it is important to have clear rules, says the former German biathlete. news’s expert is still a bit stumped. – It is very strange that this is not a rule already. It is good that they are making a change, but it should have been done sooner, says Røiseland. Cyril Burdet says the French team will now review the routines. Karoline Knotten, who finished in tenth place in Saturday’s hunt start, thinks the jury made the right decision. – She doesn’t gain anything from it, I would say. So I’d say it’s going just fine. If there had been a noticeable boom, and she was just charging, then it would have been something completely different, says Knotten, who has never experienced anything like this himself. Ended up right in the advertising sign: – Most embarrassing thing I’ve ever done 00:55 Running to the finish line without skis: – Is that allowed!? 01:05 Join us in preparing the precipitous World Cup hill 01:35 Trained for victory in the dark: – Had my headlamp with me 00:54 Show more Published 14/12/2024, at 14.06 Updated 14.12.2024, at 14.20
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