It was the race of all surprises but the winner is starting to become a regular. Already victorious three times this season including last Sunday on the Oberhof pursuit, Quentin Fillon Maillet did it again this Thursday by winning the Ruhpolding sprint. Impeccable on shooting, the fastest on skis, the Frenchman beat the German Benedikt Doll (+ 7”2) and the Belarusian Anton Smolski (+ 32”1) and took advantage of the failures of Samuelsson (18th) and Jacquelin (53rd) and the absence of the best Norwegians to consolidate his place as leader of the World Cup. Two other Habs finished in the top 10 with the 8th place of Eric Perrot (his first top 10), just ahead of Simon Desthieux.
Ruhpolding
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First sprint success this season
At the moment, there is Quentin Fillon Maillet and the others. We knew he was fast on the skis, he always was and he was again this Thursday (6 ” ahead of Doll just on the skis) but, now, the Frenchman has become ultra consistent in shooting. Like what he did on this Ruhpolding sprint. Very serene, applied, without ever panicking or accelerating his shot, the Jurassien succeeded in 10/10 and delivered a perfect race, a model of its kind, to come and win the 10th victory of his career, the 4th already this season but the very first of 2021-2022 in sprint. Here he is with 72 points in general over Jacquelin. Enough to put it in a perfect but unprecedented configuration for Sunday’s pursuit.
He will start with 7”2 ahead of veteran Benedikt Doll, back at his best and the author of his first podium since Pokljuka in January 2020, ten days after another podium at… Ruhpolding. He had finished 3rd just behind… Fillon Maillet! This time, the 3rd place went to the Belarusian Anton Smolski (+ 32”1), the revelation of the season in sprint after his 3rd place, already, in Hochfilzen. Behind, the top 10 multiplies the surprises like the Lithuanian Strolia (4th), the Finnish Seppala (5th) or the Swiss Burkhalter (10th). Blame it on the absence of the Norwegian n ° 1 team, which bypassed it, but above all on the failure of the main favorites.
Benedict Doll
Credit: Getty Images
A feat and a first top 10 for Perrot
Whether it was the Russian Loginov (32nd) or the Swedes Ponsiluoma (14th) and Samuelsson (18th), all got through with two misfires on the standing shot. Tired on the two shots, the Russian Babikov will not even be on the pursuit (71st)! Second overall in the World Cup before the event, Emilien Jacquelin was unfortunately no exception. Yet quite fast on the skis, the Frenchman completely cracked on the shooting range, with a stray bullet on the prone but above all three misses on the standing. A catastrophic performance from the Grenoblois, who finally finished a very distant 53rd place (+ 1’42”8), enough to put him in great difficulty for the pursuit of Sunday. In the meantime, it costs him the head of the classification of the specialty (taken by Samuelsson).
Despite this big underperformance, the day will have been rather good for the French besides since two other Tricolores accompany Quentin Fillon Maillet in the top 10. A regular in the person of Simon Desthieux (9th, + 50”4 with a fault ) and the sensation of the day, Eric Perrot. For his seventh World Cup start, the 20-year-old Frenchman pulled off the perfect race with a 10/10 shooting to take 8th place (+ 49”4), his very first top 10. A small feat . Disappointments on the other hand for Fabien Claude (37th) and Antonin Guigonnat (50th), too clumsy in shooting with three faults each.
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