After a lot of spinning around, with a nice collection of silver medals, France finally holds its first title at the Beijing Winter Games, thanks to Quentin Fillon-Maillet’s show of strength. With the silver collected by Tess Ledeux in big air, the Blues’ tally now shows five medals. We summarize for you what happened on this Tuesday.
Fillon Maillet, first in gold
He was expected as the leader of the French team, as the leader of the World Cup, and he responded in the best way. By winning the individual biathlon, Quentin Fillon Maillet gave the Blues their first title of this olympiad. With an 18/20 shooting, synonymous with two penalty minutes, the Haut-Savoyard had not put all the chances on his side. But his impressive level on skis still allowed him to go for gold and fulfill “a childhood dream”.
Ledeux has come so close
She thought she was holding the gold, but it eventually turned into silver. Big air favorite after her victory at the X Games, Tess Ledeux was beaten on her last jump by the Chinese Eileen Gu, announced star of the Games. The Frenchwoman, who had made two impeccable first jumps, managed to satisfy herself with her medal but could not completely hide her disappointment. And for good reason: on the passage that offered him the gold, Gu perfectly succeeded in the now famous double cork 1620, a figure invented… by Ledeux.
The founders are bound to be disappointed
The French cross-country skiing team was aiming for a podium for one of its own in the sprint and seemed able to achieve it at the end of qualifying and then quarterfinals where Richard Jouve and Lucas Chavanat impressed. But the two blue headliners unfortunately fell in the same semi-final, very high, with the huge favorite and future winner Johannes Klaebo. “We could have taken that medal,” Chavanat said tearfully when he arrived, inconsolable. They will get another chance in the relay on Sunday.
Mayer in history, Pinturault heats up
Among the main medal chances of Les Bleus, Alexis Pinturault launched his Games with the super-G on Tuesday. In an event that is not his specialty, the winner of the last big crystal globe took 11th place, narrowly behind his compatriot Blaise Giezendanner (9th). The title went to the Austrian Matthias Mayer, who made history in alpine skiing: he is the first to win a gold medal at three different Olympiads.
Chen and Ledecka, the stars launch their Games
The versatile Ester Ledecka was the surprise of the Pyeongchang Olympics, with her unique double: the gold of the parallel giant in snowboarding and the super-G in alpine skiing. This winter, the Czech intends to put that right again. She has already completed half of her challenge on Tuesday, flying over the parallel to win the Olympic title. Meanwhile, American skating prodigy Nathan Chen is aiming for his first individual Olympic crown in Beijing at the age of 22. It’s pretty well embarked: on Charles Aznavour’s La Bohème, he broke the world record in the short program on the night.
The results of all the French involved
Biathlon : Individual gold medal for Quentin Fillon-Maillet, Fabien Claude 9th, Simon Desthieux 17th, Émilien Jacquelin 72nd. Anton Smolski (Belarus) Olympic vice-champion, ahead of Johannes Boe (Norway)
Freestyle skiing : Silver medal in big air for Tess Ledeux. Eileen Gu (China) Olympic champion, ahead of Mathilde Gremaud (Switzerland, bronze)
Alpine skiing, super-G : Blaise Giezendanner 9th, Alexis Pinturault 11th, Nils Allegre 26th, Matthieu Bailet not classified. Matthias Mayer (Austria) Olympic champion, ahead of Ryan Cochran-Siegle (USA) and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (Norway)
Cross-country skiing : Richard Jouve and Lucas Chavanat eliminated in the sprint semifinals, Renaud Jay eliminated in the quarterfinals. Lena Quintin eliminated in qualifying.