The French team is getting closer to its goal of 15 medals, its record in the Winter Olympics since Sochi in 2014 and equaled four years later in Pyeongchang, following the exceptional performance of Clément Noël. The alpine skier, Olympic slalom champion, offered this Wednesday a thirteenth charm to the tricolor delegation, the fourth in gold following Quentin Fillon Maillet (twice) in biathlon and Papadakis-Cizeron in ice dancing. In biathlon, the French women’s relay, too feverish in shooting, failed to imitate the boys, in silver yesterday. Here is everything you need to remember from this Olympic day.
The magic of Christmas
He made a name for himself in 2018, in Pyeongchang, with a fourth place in slalom for his first Olympic Games. Clément Noël is this time mounted on the highest step, in Beijing, following a second round of madness. The Vosgien, in tears following his victory, was however only sixth following his first passage, 38 hundredths from the Austrian Johannes Strolz, already crowned in the alpine combined. This performance for the Frenchman, in a winter marked by several disappointing outings, such as at Madonna di Campiglio (Italy), in December, or at Adelboden (Switzerland), in January, underlines his immense talent.
This Olympic title comes twenty years following that of Jean-Pierre Vidal, the last Frenchman crowned in slalom at the Olympic Games (in Salt Lake City). “I don’t know if I’m still realizing,” he commented at the microphone of France TV, overwhelmed with emotion. The other Frenchman involved, Alexis Pinturault, who has been suffering since the start of the Olympic Games, finished sixteenth.
The frustration of French biathletes
They hoped to imitate their partners in the men’s relay, silver medalists yesterday following an exceptional race, but the French biathletes, third in Pyeongchang in 2018, quickly burdened their medal hopes by being too imprecise in shooting, as during the passage of ‘Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet who penalized the team with a penalty lap.
The individual Olympic vice-champion and her teammates, Anaïs Bescond, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Julia Simon finished sixth more than two minutes behind Sweden, Olympic champions ahead of Russia, 12 seconds away, and Germany, at 37 seconds.
No feat in cross-country skiing
No second medal at these Games for Richard Jouve and Hugo Lapalus, who had won bronze in the 4×10 km relay with Maurice Manificat and Clément Parisse. The two French, associated for the team sprint in cross-country skiing, despite a good second place in the semi-finals, finished seventh 35 seconds behind the Norwegians, Olympic champions ahead of Finland and Russia.
Hugo Lapalus, preferred yesterday to Lucas Chanavat to everyone’s surprise, appeared in difficulty from the start of the race and did not manage to keep up with the pace set by the leaders, despite the very good stints from his partner Richard Jouve.
In the final of the women’s event, the French Mélissa Gal and Léna Quintin, drafted on time following their semi-final, finished last very far from the Germans, Katharina Hennig and Victoria Carl, Olympic champions. Sweden and Russia completed the podium.
Another short-track failure
Definitely, the French short-track has been living a real nightmare since the start of the Olympic Games. Tifany Huot-Marchand and Gwendoline Daudet were eliminated in the 1500m quarter-finals. Both finished in last place within minutes of each other. During this fortnight, they had already failed in the 1000m, then in the team relay.
The United States takes the door in hockey
This is one of the surprises of the day. The United States, who finished in the top four of the group stage of the men’s Olympic ice hockey tournament, were eliminated on penalties by Slovakia. Others qualified for the semi-finals: Finland, which largely beat Switzerland (5-1) and Russia, which defeated Denmark (3-1). The last place will be decided between Sweden and Canada.