HOLMENKOLLEN (Dagbladet): Martin Fourcade (27) has only been in training in a week after he shook off the fever he suffered after World round in the US in mid-February.
At the press conference for the French World Cup squad in biathlon Holmenkollen yesterday afternoon, gave the Frenchman and World Cup leader stated that he was unsure of the form before tomorrow’s World Cup-opening – starting with the mixed relay.
Martin Fourcade is set up on the French team, along with Quentin Fillon Maillet, Marie Dorin Habert and anaïs bescond.
– In response to competition
– To be quite honest, I do not know how fit they are right now. I have to compete to get a good answer as to whether it is good or bad. And anyway, it will be positive for my chances in the sprint on Saturday. It will make me more relaxed to the start, responds Martin Fourcade on Dagbladet questions.
The uncertainty around the shape of the world’s best biathlete still not led to discussion about Fourcade place on the French mixed layer. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen thinks a similar situation would have been unthinkable around a Norwegian relay outlets.
– It may well be that Fourcade would have benefited from a proper recce before Saturday’s sprint, but the World Cup is not the place to use as a workout. Why not instead use another runner who is in top form, and who have prepared themselves to just the race, said Bjoerndalen Dagbladet.
Stayed at Holmenkollen
He still think not that the world number one goes on a real blow to the morning.
– Fourcade is so good that he is performing well even though he is not at maximum. But it would never have been accepted in a Norwegian team to use mixed-relay as a recce among either coaches or skaters, said Bjoerndalen, who should not go mixed-relay tomorrow.
42-year-old, however, is optimistic on its own behalf in the World Cup, having learned that the body still responds equally well on coaching as 15 years ago.
Martin Fourcade was with the French mixed-side that beat Norway in the battle for the silver medal behind the Czech Republic in Finnish Kontiolahti last year, and he hopes that a strong French team will give him a dream opening at Holmenkollen World Cup – a championship which is so important for the Frenchman that he lived in Holmenkollen a few months last year.
– We have a strong team. We hope for gold, but a medal – whatever denomination – will be good, says Martin Fourcade.
– Always loved Oslo
Holmenkollen has always meant something extra for him. It was here he World Cup debut in 2008, albeit with a modest 61 in the sprint. But it is precisely in Oslo he has conclusively several overall victories in the World Cup, and he has won five world cupløp in the north woods.
– I’ve always loved Oslo. There were many memories that emerged from last summer when we came back to Oslo now, and it got me smile. I am very happy to be back here, said Fourcade.
He is pointed out as the major advance favorite, but 27-year-old can not stress of such a stamp. The man with eight World Cup and Olympic gold does not deny that there is gold he hunts for the next scant two weeks.
– I will not lie. I would be disappointed if I do not win a medal, and preferably gold. It is the aim min. If I implement so I’m good for, and I will be fighting for gold, says Martin Fourcade.
– I’ve experienced everything in Oslo, except the taste of gold in championship.
– The favorite no matter
The first indications of World Cup -form he gets on mixed-relay tomorrow.
– I think competition form is pretty good, but I can not be absolutely sure.
Bjoerndalen believe that disease so shortly before the championship rush Fourcade something, but at the same time, the Norwegian biathlon legend convinced the last åras great master will deliver a strong championship in Oslo.
– it is obviously not positive for him that he has been ill, but Fourcade is so strong that he fixes it. He has trained for full six days. He gets four to, he is in top shape.
– He’s the biggest favorite in the sprint anyway, says Ole Einar Bjørndalen.
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