Special Envoy to Beijing
To discover
The Olympic medal table: Norway already in the lead, France unlocks its counter
Full results of the 2022 Winter Olympics
The complete program of the Beijing Olympics 2022
And finally, Quentin Fillon-Maillet returned to earth, after having been "
on another planet
", in the words of his teammate Simon Desthieux, since the start of the Beijing Games.
By finishing 4th in the mass start, the Frenchman did not manage to completely complete his Olympic masterpiece, namely winning six medals in as many races.
Nevertheless, his performance – two gold medals and three silver – will remain etched in the history of French sport.
Never has a French athlete achieved such a performance in a single edition.
Simply, he will have lacked a little energy and a shooting success equal to that which he had known previously in Zhangjiakou to go to the end.
Five medals in six races
The first prone shot, as so often, did not bring any real lessons.
The Norwegian Johannes Boe, in search of a 5th medal to equal the Frenchman, was the first to make a mistake, but in the process, Quentin Fillon-Maillet imitated him and the two rivals were quits for a penalty lap, and a rapid ascent on skis on the Swede Sebastian Samuelsson, whom it was better not to let take the powder to their heels on pain of never seeing him again.
The junction took place before the second lying shot, on which the French would lose contact.
Both by shooting more slowly than the Norwegian, but also by missing a target, a fault that a Boe did not commit taking control of the race, rid of the "
morbac
” – the former nickname of Fillon-Maillet when he started out in the French team – hexagonal.
Read alsoQuentin Fillon Maillet: "Games that go far beyond my dreams"
However, if the quest for gold was complicated, it was not yet totally lost.
Especially since the Jura player had demonstrated remarkable solidity in standing shooting since the start of his Games.
This was confirmed a few moments later, when the Frenchman made a faultless performance which put him back on the podium, in 3rd position, about fifteen seconds behind a Johannes Boe clearly above, but only a stone's throw from the Swede. Martin Ponsiluoma, whom he was quick to join.
His sixth medal was just a shot away, the last of these Games.
Nervous, the Norwegian opened the door by not whitewashing two targets.
A lapse in the last standing shot
But behind, everything collapsed for Quentin Fillon-Maillet, who missed his first three shots, pulled himself together to take down the last two.
Except that his three penalty laps were too much for the Jura player, who cruelly saw the Swede Martin Ponsiluoma and the Norwegian Vetle Christiansen slipping away from under his nose.
Direction a podium on which, for the first time, he was not invited.
A disappointment, inevitably, as he showed when crossing the line.
Who will however be quickly forgotten in view of the exceptional Games he made at 29 years old.
Just as you can't win every time, it's probably not possible in biathlon to get on the podium every time...
French medals at the Beijing Olympics
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