Starting in second position behind Johannes Boe, the Jurassien returned the race. A second gold charm, after the individual.
Eight days ago, Quentin Fillon Maillet had a painful memory of the Olympics. Three medals, including one in gold later, the leader of the French team could go down in history if he stood on the podium again after the continuation of the biathlon of the Olympic Games-2022 on Sunday. And “QFM”, the Jura, did it: starting 25 seconds behind Johannes Boe, his delay after the sprint, the Frenchman reversed the race, with a superb 20 out of 20 in shooting. It is therefore his second title after that won in the individual, in addition to his two silver medals in the mixed relay and in the sprint.
From Pyeongchang to Beijing, Fillon Maillet has changed a lot. In 2018, he missed his first Olympic meeting, plagued by personal problems. Since his arrival in China, the Jura, who arrived with the status of leader of the World Cup, is without rival, or almost.
“We feel free”
On Sunday, the conditions were particularly bad, with terrible winds and heavy snow falling on the track.on the Zhangjiakou track. Vincent Vittoz, the coach of the French teams, reacted to the microphone of France Télé: “Quentin cracked Johannes Boe, and even on the last shot with Latypov, it’s very solid. We feel him free, he assumes his race, his biathlon. He comes out with a nice biathlon. If his individual title, he built it with speed, there he built it on the firing line.
The pursuit exercise, with four shooting sessions often in direct confrontation, is successful for QFM, which has signed seven of its twelve World Cup victories there, including four this winter. Before the race, he said: “I will approach this race in the same way as the individual, as if nothing was won. I’m in too good a position to let things go. It can still largely play for the gold if the circumstances want to smile. At 29, Fillon Maillet can still do better on this Olympiad: he still has the men’s relay with his teammates from the France team, and the mass-start to conclude.