Jules Burnotte and his teammates from the national biathlon team returned to action on Friday at the World Cup in Kontiolahti, Finland. Returning from a 10-day break after the Beijing Olympics, the Canadians set the eighth fastest time in the men’s 4 x 7.5 km relay.
Posted at 2:30 p.m.
The Norwegians, authors of a time of 1 h 12 min 6.1 s, were the fastest to cross the distance and they were crowned at the end of the event. The Olympic champions were accompanied on the podium by the Swedes (+10.6 s) and by the French (+12.4 s).
For their part, Burnotte, Adam Runnalls, Scott Gow and Christian Gow finished the course 2 min 43.3 s behind the winners. According to the Quebecer, the inactivity and the lack of training of the last two weeks were felt on the track during this relay.
” It was hard ! I had almost forgotten what it was like to push hard for almost 20 minutes. It’s rough on the body, ”he said with a touch of humor in an interview with Sportcom.
Canada’s third torchbearer to start on Friday, Burnotte had a race that reflected his teammates. He used extra balls in his three shooting sessions and he couldn’t close the gap with the leading group during his passage.
“We didn’t necessarily have a result target today [vendredi] and we just wanted to have a good race. It wasn’t quite there on the ski and we would have liked to be in the top 6 once again, but it was still a good race under the circumstances,” analyzed the 25-year-old Sherbrooke resident.
He was also very happy to return to competition after having experienced the Olympic Games that lived up to his expectations in Beijing. Burnotte believes that the leave was beneficial and that this more difficult return was a necessary evil in view of the last portion of the World Cup calendar, which will conclude on March 20, in Oslo (Norway).
We’ve taken it a bit relaxed since the Games and we had to start again somewhere! We were very busy mentally and physically, so it was good to rest a bit. Now we are back for three competitions and it’s a good start.
Jules Burnotte
Jules Burnotte will be back on the Kontiolahti course on Saturday to take part in the 10 km sprint. He will try to carve out a place among the top 60 competitors who will earn a pass for the 12.5 km pursuit scheduled for Sunday.
“At this stage of the season, you can see that fatigue is felt for pretty much everyone and it becomes mental endurance. You have to avoid minor injuries and focus on one race at a time,” he concluded.