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On another planet.
Nothing seems to be able to happen to Quentin Fillon-Millet on the Zhangjiakou launch pad, which the Frenchman has domesticated in an impressive way.
This Sunday, at the end of a perfect race from A to Z, the Jura player won his second Games title, after the individual, and his fourth medal in as many races, with silver in the sprint and the mixed relay.
A feat that he is the first French sportsman to accomplish on a single edition, even his glorious predecessor, Martin Fourcade, stops at three.
LiveJO 2022: Fillon Maillet makes history with another gold medal
Johannes Boe was having a great day... before collapsing on penalties
For the Frenchman, as he had perfectly explained the day before at the end of his silver sprint, the only way to play for the win this Sunday did not depend only on him, but also on the fact that Johannes Boe "opened a door for him ".
But very quickly it became clear that the Norwegian was once again having a great day on skis.
Second by second, he widened the gap on his pursuer.
The first prone shot, perfectly executed by the two leaders, did not change the face of a duel from a distance.
Long, the distance, because Boe managed to take about fifty seconds in advance, which offered him a joker in the event of a missed target.
Which wasn't going to be too much...
French medals at the Beijing Olympics
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Indeed, the first turning point in this pursuit came on the second prone shot, during which the Norwegian missed his first two shots, took the time to regroup before blanking the next three targets.
A lesser evil.
Especially since success was on his side with the recalcitrant rifle of a Fillon-Maillet tapping on it to put it back on track.
What he managed to do by signing in the process an almost unexpected, given the circumstances, 5 out of 5. But this small technical incident did not allow him to completely pick up a Boe maintaining a margin of fifteen seconds.
Good, but not enough in case of a new shooting error...
Everything then changed on the first standing shot where success decided to change sides.
Brutally.
Thus, when the Norwegian got into position at the firing point, a strong gust of wind forced him to wait a few seconds.
Before missing one, then two and finally three targets!
Arrived at his side, Fillon-Maillet, he had no relationship problem with Eole and released a magical clear round which propelled him in the lead, while his rival fell to 5th place at 55 seconds.
The door had just opened wide, very wide, and the threat changed face and nation, with the Russian Eduard Latypov also on a perfect 15 out of 15 in shooting...
Read alsoThe Winter Olympics medal table: Norway takes the lead, France 13th
A threat far from phantom because Latypov was quick to come back on his heels, faster on skis.
So that the two men appeared together on the last firing point.
Moment ideally chosen by the French to speak about his experience.
Indeed, it was he who fired the first ball, then the following ones.
All perfectly in the heart of their targets.
A symphony completed only this last shot, synonymous with 20 out of 20 where the Russian made a mistake, just one, fatal.
On the last lap, Fillon-Maillet could take the time to savor the scope of his exceptional performance.
And he still has the men's relay (Tuesday) and the mass start (Friday) to give his Games an even more legendary look.
The other French people had a difficult Sunday.
Having started very well on skis and moved up to 7th place before the first exercise lying down, Emilien Jacquelin missed two targets and plunged back into his torments and his doubts.
As for Simon Desthieux and Fabien Claude, the first shot also put an end to their hopes of coming back, the first committing two faults and the second three, which immediately proved to be prohibitive.
Even if Desthieux had the merit, behind, to make a good end of the race to finish 7th.
Not so far, finally, from a Johannes Boe finishing 5th at more than two minutes.
Shot down by a Frenchman at the zenith.
