It’s the return of the great Quentin Fillon Maillet. The Frenchman won on Friday January 10 in the Oberhof sprint (Germany), an event counting towards the Biathlon World Cup. And the double Olympic champion of Beijing-2022 is not the only Habs on the podium. His teammates Fabien Claude and Emilien Jacquelin finished second and third in the race, respectively 14.9 seconds (zero faults behind the rifle) and 22.1 seconds (one penalty lap) from first place. France had not achieved a hat-trick since March 2020 and Martin Fourcade’s farewell to the biathlon in Kontiolahti (Finland).
“QFM”, lacking results for two winters, achieved an authoritative faultless performance on the Oberhof shooting range on Friday and regained its speed on skis (3e time of committed biathletes), two essential conditions for success in a short format like the sprint (10 km with two shooting passes, one lying down then one standing). The last World Cup success of the 32-year-old Franc-Comtois, who did not hide his spleen on the track in recent months, dates back to March 10, 2022, in the sprint in Otepaa (Finland).
“A Way of the Cross”
Friday, his success at Oberhof, under the noses of Norwegians who passed through the race – Martin Uldal, 5eis the best Scandinavian representative, Johannes Boe (3 faults) finished only 13e –, has a little taste of personal revenge for Quentin Fillon Maillet, who signs in the German temple of biathlon his 17e individual victory in the World Cup.
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“It was a path of the cross to get therereacted QFM at the microphone of La Chaîne L’Equipe. I’ve had a lot of questions over the last two years, I’ve been rowing a lot for several months. This victory means a lot to me. Finding the podium again is a lot of emotion. »
Saturday, time for the pursuit, a race in which the gaps between the participants are maintained at the start of the race. Another opportunity for the biathlete from Champagnole (Jura) to add to his record and, for the Blues, to continue their flawless performance after Paula Botet’s victory on Thursday in the women’s sprint.
France
