White cabbage for the French on the last race. At the foot of the podium, Fillon Maillet fails in his quest for a sixth individual medal which would have been historic. Still a winner on Friday, Johannes Boe also leaves with five awards, including four Olympic titles.
Quentin Fillon Maillet was 15 kilometers, twenty targets and a last big half-hour of effort from entering Olympic history, becoming the first athlete at the Winter Games to amass six medals in one edition. The already double Olympic champion and triple silver medalist was very close to achieving this major feat.
But this Friday, on Friday’s biathlon mass-start in Beijing, the Haut-Jurassien gave in under the weight of history. Three crippling faults on his last standing shot, when he was second, deprived him of the coveted medal. Fillon Maillet finished in the worst place (4th), behind the equally historic performance of Johannes Boe. With his new Olympic title, the Norwegian also wins a fifth distinction at these Games, including four gold. Immense.
Despite this disappointment, French biathlon left the Games with seven medals, improving on its record set in Vancouver in 2010 (one gold, two silver and three bronze).
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