After a first part of the season not up to his ambitions, Quentin Fillon Maillet will try to revive as soon as the World Cup resumes in Pokljuka (Slovenia), from Thursday to Sunday, with in a corner of the head the Worlds in a month in Germany.
QFM's post-Olympic gold and big crystal globe winter didn't turn out the way he hoped.
After the first eight individual races of the season, the five-time Olympic medalist from Beijing is still chasing a first podium.
At best for the moment, he finished fourth, at the end of the pursuit of Hochfilzen (Austria) in December.
Other than that, he has four top 10s and three top 15s.
In the general classification of the World Cup, the name of Fillon Maillet thus only appears in eighth place.
Far - more than 300 points - from the leader, his Norwegian rival Johannes Boe.
Also behind two other Frenchmen, Émilien Jacquelin (3rd) and Fabien Claude (5th).
Before the end-of-year break in mid-December, the coach of the Blues of biathlon Vincent Vittoz admitted "
a small basic problem
".
“
We will need at least the fifteen days
” of cutoff until January “
to understand and try to rectify the situation
”, estimated the former founder.
“
We are going to make sure that he takes advantage of it to try to find both a higher physical level – we can see that it hurts – and a little mental freshness which allows him to approach his shots a little more serenely, with confidence.
»
Olsbu Roeiseland back
“
We don't have a lot of levers
, observed Fillon Maillet frankly,
but I will try to be smart, take a little rest and come back better in January.
»
Will these two weeks be enough for the 30-year-old from the Jura to get back on track?
The two individual races scheduled near Lake Bled, a sprint on Friday and a pursuit on Saturday, before two mixed relays on Sunday, will provide the first elements of an answer.
Before the World Championships in Oberhof, Germany, from February 8 to 19, the highlight of winter, the circuit will then head for Ruhpolding, in Bavaria, then Anterselva, in Italy, future Olympic site of the 2026 Olympics.
From Thursday, Julia Simon will begin 2023 with the yellow bib of the general classification leader on her shoulders at the start of the women's sprint, after a very convincing first part of the season, marked by two victories and three podiums.
Weakened by two viruses and absent until then, the Norwegian Marte Olsbu Roeiseland, holder of the big crystal globe, returns to Pokljuka.
"
I've been waiting a long time and I'm happy to finally be able to say, 'I'm back!'
" she rejoices.
Conversely, the Swede Hanna Oeberg, with a cold, skips the Slovenian week.
The program for the 4th stage of the World Cup (in French time):
Thursday
(from 2.20 p.m.) Women's sprint
Friday
(from 2.20 p.m.) Men's sprint
Saturday
(11.30 a.m.) Women 's
pursuit (2.45 p.m.) Men 's pursuit
Sunday
(11.45 a.m.) Relay single mixed
(2:25 p.m.) Mixed relay.
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