The Blues, with Julia Simon and Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, placed fifth in the first women's relay of the Biathlon World Cup season, won by Norway on Wednesday in Östersund (Sweden). Simon and Braisaz-Bouchet were aligned together for the first time since the legal conflict between them in a bank card fraud case was revealed at the beginning of the summer.
The French relay had already been clinched, more than two minutes from the lead of the race, when Braisaz-Bouchet and Simon entered the track, one behind the other. Ingrid Tandrevold's Norway won ahead of the Oeberg sisters' Sweden (41.6) and Germany (47.9). France, with a penalty round and ten picks, finished almost two and a half minutes late.