Silver medal for the quartet composed of Fabien Claude, Emilien Jacquelin, Simon Desthieux and Quentin Fillon Maillet. This is the fifth individual medal for “QFM”, a new record for a Frenchman at the Winter Olympics.
In the tricolor biathlon prize list, there was an anomaly to be corrected: the Blues have never been crowned men’s Olympic relay champions. The French relay, made up of Fabien Claude, Emilien Jacquelin, Simon Desthieux and with the quadruple Olympic medalist Quentin Fillon Maillet for the finish, hoped to change this state of affairs.
The Blues will have to settle for the silver medal. Well launched by Fabien Claude and Emilien Jacquelin, the four-star quartet has long been on the heels of the Russians, who compete under a neutral banner. Until the last standing shot, where Latypov, the last Russian torchbearer, completely broke down. Quentin Fillon Maillet did not take advantage of it, committing a fault. Author of a faultless, the last Norwegian runner took control at the best time to offer his country a second consecutive Olympic title, the “ROC” (for “Russian Olympic Committee”) finally failing in third place.
The French team collected a twelfth medal, including three titles and six to be credited to biathlon. Which earned him tenth place in the medal table, dominated by Norway. For Quentin Fillon Maillet, the harvest continues: with this additional silver medal, the Haut-Jurassien becomes the third Frenchman to win five medals in the same edition of the Games, the only one in the Winter Games.
