Franziska Preuß did not let the French fans bother her. © APA/afp / OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE

Superstars are annoyed about unpleasant fan scenes

The behavior of the French fans at the World Cup in Annecy-Le Grand Bornand has caused criticism. The local superstars in particular were annoyed by the lack of fair play from their own supporters.

21 December 2024

From: never

When Julia Simon and Jeanne Richard arrived at the shooting range, everything was as usual. Every hit by the French women was accompanied by loud cheers, the rhythm of the athletes was not disturbed in this moment of absolute concentration and was even treated as sacred. But that was not the case just a short time before.

The eventual winner Franziska Preuß, as the leader, had to fight not only against her high pulse and the remaining five targets in the last standing shot, but also against the French audience. While the 30-year-old fired one shot after the other, loud chants of “Allez Les Bleus” echoed across the area. An absolute no-go at the shooting range. But Preuß did not let this get her down, dropped all the targets and then ran towards her second individual victory of the season.

Jeanmonnot: “I find it unsportsmanlike”

The incident caused discontent among some athletes – especially the French. "I'm not proud of it and I don't like it when things like that happen. I think it's unsportsmanlike," Lou Jeanmonnot criticized in an interview with the Norwegian news portal NRK her own fans. The two-time world champion even suspected that Preuß was further spurred on by the provocation and thus became "even better".

Her compatriot Justine Braisaz-Bouchet agreed. "I'm not a fan of it," she explained. "But I'm very happy for Preuß. We must always keep fair play in mind."

"That's what it's like when you run in France. It's a bit annoying, but it happens." Elvira Öberg

The Swede Elvira Öberg, on the other hand, was not so harsh on the French fans. According to the 2022 Olympic relay champion, the heckling was to be expected. "That's what it's like when you run in France. It's a bit annoying, but that's what happens when you have such a committed audience like here. When you're standing there, you're in your own bubble and you don't even think about it," she gave an insight.

Preuß is not deterred

Preuß herself, however, was not worried and took the episode in her stride. "I thought they could be a bit calmer," the German noted. "I saw it as a challenge and tried to concentrate on myself and the targets. It sharpened my senses a bit and that worked well," she confirmed the suspicion of her competitor Jeanmonnot. The audience's action backfired.