To write history correctly, it is better to have well-protected hands. Anticipating the polar temperatures announced on the Zhangjiakou track despite the progress of the race on Tuesday at the start of the followingnoon, Quentin Fillon Maillet embarked on a small tailoring workshop upstream of the men’s relay by adding a piece of fabric on the end of his pair of gloves. And if the biathlete had, by his own admission, trembling legs on his last shot, the local -17°C are not much to do with it.
“It was a bit of excitement, of wanting to do well, slips the Jura, also destabilized by the collapse of the Russian Latypov on his right. It’s something that I haven’t had so far in these Olympics, while I still had to manage more than one shot at stake. “But if his three shooting errors, the highest total of the Blues with Simon Desthieux, may have prevented him from slipping into the right car to go and compete for gold, the money acquired with his trio of partners still gives an even crazier dimension to its Games.
With five medals, the one who was already the only athlete of the winter to have offered four podiums in one edition, equaled a record covered with a mountain of dust. In France, only the fencer Roger Ducret in 1924 and the archer Julien Brulé in 1920 had reached such a total. “QFM” has an ultimate opportunity to overtake these centuries-old brands. See you on Friday (10 a.m. in France) for the mass-start, the ultimate men’s race on Chinese snow launching the 30 best biathletes of the moment for a final fight.
“It’s starting to get a bit worn”
A format in direct confrontation that Fillon Maillet likes. He signed a podium at the last two Worlds and took second place in December from that of Grand-Bornand behind his teammate with the Blues, Emilien Jacquelin. But it has much broader historical promise. “My Games are already more than successful, but the Grand Slam would be incredible, announces the person concerned. I go there with a lot of desire. Now I have to try to recover. In any case, the form was good today (Editor’s note: Tuesday), even better than in the pursuit. It bodes well. »
On the side of the staff, we are a little more worried regarding the state of freshness of his star of the Games. “He will have to regain his energy and remobilize him, I think he is starting to be a little worn out”, describes the coach of the France team, Vincent Vittoz. Four last passages on the launch pad, 15 kilometers of effort, and at the end of the end, a possible sixth medal, even a third Olympic title, to equal another record of Fourcade or Killy. Score the Games, once more and once more.
“I came for a title and to do great Olympics, and I find myself writing history, loose Fillon Maillet. I have a hard time taking in the magnitude of it all. For introspection he will have all the time later. To go even higher, it’s Friday or never.
