Justine Braisaz-Bouchet

Justine Braisaz
Personal information
Nationality	French
Born	4 July 1996 (age 27); Albertville, France
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	58 kg (128 lb)
Professional information
Sport	Biathlon
Club	Les Saisie
World Cup debut	12 December 2014
Olympic Games
Teams	1 – (2018)
Medals	1 (0 gold)
World Championships
Teams	5 (2015–2020)
Medals	4 (0 gold)
World Cup
Seasons	6 (2014/15–)
Individual victories	2
All victories	7
Individual podiums	10
All podiums	28
Medal record
Olympic Games
World Championships

Justine Braisaz (born 4 July 1996) is a French biathlete, medalist of The Winter Olympics 2018 and World Championships. She won two individual races in Biathlon World Cup, first victory was the mass start in Annecy in the season 2017/18. She won 5 races with the women a mixed relay and reached another podiums.

Biography

Justine Braisaz began her biathlon career at the Saisies Sports Club. She quickly moved to the Nordic section in order to practice cross-country skiing and biathlon. During the 2011/2012 season, in the Cadette U16 category, she won the French Championship of cross-country skiing and the French Championship of Biathlon, in part thanks to her speed on skis. She moved to Biathlon fully in the following year representing the Junior category (U19).

During the 2012/2013 season, the first year in this category, Justine Braisaz was selected for the 2013 Junior World Championships in Obertilliach, Austria. She finished 46th in the individual race and 71st in the sprint.

The following year, she was promoted to the highest class at the Junior World Championships in Presque Isle (USA). She finished the individual race ranked 29th, 5th place in the sprint and 15th in pursuit. In the relay she placed 6th with partners Coline Varcin and Chloé Chevalier.

In the same year (2012/2013), she participated in the European Championships held in Nové Město, Czech Republic. She ranked 12th in the individual race, 18th in the sprint, 14th in the pursuit and 8th in the mixed relay with Chloé Chevalier, Dany Chavoutier and Clément Dumont. At the French Championships held in Prémanon in December 2013, she won two French Champion titles (Sprint and Pursuit). In March, she managed to climb into second place of the Mass Start behind Julie Cardon during the French Biathlon Championships. Her progress was of such a magnitude that she managed to earn her place to compete with the best French biathletes in the summer events of the Biathlon Summer Tour.

For the 2014/2015 season, she joined the French Youth / Junior Biathlon Team. In the first stage of the 2014/2015 season of the IBU Cup in Beitostølen, Norway, Justine Braisaz took her first podium finish with a second place in the second sprint. The day before, she finished 10th in the sprint event. This was her first international podium and as a result, she was selected for the Biathlon World Cup.

Justine Braisaz made her Biathlon World Cup debut on 12 December 2014 in Hochfilzen (2014/2015 season), Norway. She ranked 17th in the sprint, becoming the youngest athlete in the world top 20. The next day she placed 9th in the relay with her French teammates; Marine Bolliet, Enora Latuillière and Anaïs Bescond. A week later, she improved her best performance by finishing 14th in the Pokljuka sprint and managed to qualify for the Mass Start with the top 30 biathletes. She set a new record by becoming the youngest athlete lined up on a Mass Start at only 18 years and 5 months.

She earned her first podium her World Cup career in Oberhof, Germany, by achieving second place in the women's relay on 7 January 2015, with her teammates; Marine Bolliet, Marie Dorin-Habert and Anaïs Bescond. On 13 March 2015, at the 2015 World Championships in Kontiolahti, Finland, she won her first medal, silver, for the women's 4 x 6 km relay with Anaïs Bescond, Enora Latuillière and Marie Dorin-Habert. At the French Biathlon Championships in La Féclaz, she won the relay title with Julia Simon and Marine Bolliet. The following year, at the world championships in Oslo, Norway, she won another silver medal in the same event with Anaïs Bescond, Anaïs Chevalier and Marie Dorin-Habert. She also achieved her best result as an individual when she finished in 12th place in the Mass Start Competition. A week later, at the final round of the IBU World Cup season in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, she earned her first top 10 result with a 4th-place finish in the sprint event. She finished the season with a 10th-place finish in the pursuit event, which allowed her to finish her second world cup season in the 21st position overall.

At the 2016 Biathlon Championships in Méribel, France, she earned the title of French Champion by winning the Mass Start even in the U21 category. During the preseason 2016–2017, she won the sprint at the Norwegian Championships in Sjusjøen, Norway, ahead of Norway's Tiril Eckhoff and Ukraine's Julia Dzhyma. She won her first individual World Cup podium on 9 December 2016 at the Pokljuka (Slovenia) sprint, second event of the World Cup, finishing second by 3 seconds behind Germany's Laura Dahlmeier: she was only 20 years old.

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.^[1]

Olympics

1 medal (1 bronze)

Event	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Mass start	Relay	Mixed relay
2018 Pyeongchang	55th	10th	34th	20th	Bronze	—

World Championships

4 medals (2 silver, 2 bronze)

Event	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Mass start	Relay	Mixed relay	Single mixed relay
2015 Kontiolahti	34th	34th	35th	—	Silver	—	—
2016 Oslo Holmenkollen	16th	25th	22nd	12th	Silver	—
2017 Hochfilzen	48th	28th	5th	28th	Bronze	—
2019 Östersund	Bronze	60th	DNS	15th	8th	—	—
2020 Antholz-Anterselva	19th	32nd	37th	22nd	14th	7th	—

*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.

**The single mixed relay was added as an event in 2019.

Junior/Youth World Championships

Event	Class	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Relay
2013 Obertilliach	Youth	46th	71st	—	—
2014 Presque Isle	Junior	29th	5th	15th	6th

World Cup

Season	Age	Overall			Individual			Sprint			Pursuit			Mass start
Season	Age	Races	Points	Position	Races	Points	Position	Races	Points	Position	Races	Points	Position	Races	Points	Position
2014–15	18	13/25	114	51st	2/3	8	61st	8/10	85	39th	2/7	17	57th	1/5	4	51st
2015–16	19	21/25	372	21st	3/3	40	24th	9/9	168	17th	7/8	123	21st	2/5	41	31st
2016–17	20	25/26	706	6th	3/3	63	15th	9/9	281	5th	8/9	250	6th	5/5	112	15th
2017–18	21	15/22	419	17th	1/2	34	20th	6/8	163	13th	5/7	133	13th	3/5	89	20th
2018–19	22	24/25	352	26th	3/3	61	15th	9/9	118	27th	7/8	73	36th	5/5	100	19th
2019–20	23	21/21	547	9th	3/3	112	3rd	8/8	166	12th	5/5	137	9th	5/5	136	9th