Aurélien Canot, Media365, published on Sunday January 12, 2025 at 1:36 p.m.
Paula Botet and Quentin Fillon Maillet, both winners of the sprint this week and who represented the Blues on Sunday at Oberhof in the single mixed relay, allowed the French team to climb onto the podium again, finishing 2nd behind Finland.
The Blues still on the podium. The two successes in the sprint, with a hat-trick for the men, and that of Lou Jeanmonnot on Saturday in the pursuit clearly did not satisfy this French team which always wants more and had already had an exceptional week on the snow of Oberhof (Germany). So, on Sunday, these currently irresistible French people added another layer of excellence by offering themselves a new Top 3, this time in the single mixed relay. It must be said that the Tricolores were represented by two of their heroes of the week: Paula Botet, who discovered the specialty, and Quentin Fillon Maillet. Or the two winners of the sprint a few days earlier. But also two insatiable biathletes who were counting on their first association to propel the French colors to the top again. They didn’t get far. The victory was still within reach at the end of the last shooting range, which saw Botet come out just behind Suvi Minkkinen.
Finland in history
Bressanne, who signed her first World Cup success on Thursday as she made her comeback in the category after two years in the IBU, pulled away and gave everything in the final meters to get back on her rival. But without succeeding (“I quickly saw that I couldn’t make up time for her”) to prevent the Finn, in great form (Editor’s note: She is 5th in the general ranking), from offering her country the very first victory in its history in a single mixed relay (while Germany won its first podium of the week and Norway came through), with five picks at the finish for the winners, against eight for the French team. “I enjoyed it, there were some great things and Paula had a great race too,” Fillon Maillet nevertheless appreciated afterwards, a time in the lead but without managing to keep the lead. Botet also had a smile. For her first relay, the heroine of the sprint finished in a magnificent 2nd place. Excuse me a little.