Eric Perrot in a day without and Émilien Jacquelin with his sights poorly adjusted, only the 33-year-old biathlete managed to get on the podium in the mass start, thus taking 9e Olympic medal of his career. A record for a Frenchman.
The French men’s biathlon team dreamed of fireworks during the mass start, to complete these Games. At the finish, it almost turned out to be nothing more than a damp squib before Quentin Fillon Maillet, the eternal Jurassian, managed to win a bronze medal through self-sacrifice, through courage rather than merit, given his 16 out of 20 in shooting in conditions, it is true, very delicate. In the shadow of the man with nine Olympic podiums, Eric Perrot, Émilien Jacquelin and Fabien Claude were far from the mark.
The Blues did not start with their guns, leaving the Norwegians to set the pace first. However, as the first shooting range approached, Fillon Maillet decided to stretch his legs by taking control. No doubt to get into the right rhythm when tackling an exercise that has not been his specialty for some time.
LIVE – 2026 Olympics: no gold but bronze for Fillon Maillet who enters the history of the Games, France wins its 20th medal
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Besides, he made a mistake, like Eric Perrot while Fabien Claude immediately said goodbye to the podium with his three missed targets. But in front, after a 5 out of 5 in “Lucky Luke” mode, reigned a royal Emilien Jacquelin with a small nest egg at first of around ten seconds ahead of a peloton chasing him. Then almost twenty seconds on a trio of Norwegians struggling to keep up.
A mess of twists and turns
Unfortunately, the Frenchman missed a target on this second prone and breakaway shot, Jacquelin found himself in a group of five biathletes, with the Italian Tommaso Giacomel, in resurrection mode after a totally failed Games so far, and three Norwegians (Sturla Laegreid, Vetle Christiansen and Johannes Dale-Skjevdal). Behind, Fillon Maillet, thanks to a solid 5 out of 5, revived by returning to the Top 10 while Perrot drowned to settle for three medals in these Games, including only one solo, the individual silver. A small disappointment, even if his solidity in each of the two relays – mixed and men’s – in which he took part was a strong marker of the French success in the exercise.
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It was then that several twists and turns occurred. The first concerned Giacomel who suddenly stopped his effort, without warning since he was leading the race 200 meters before. Then the standing shooting range, carried by the wind, looked more like a fairground exercise than a high-level competition. The gusts carried body and soul away the champagne biathlon of Jacquelin, author of a terrible one out of five. With two faults, Fillon Maillet did a little better by remaining in the Top 5. Far from the leader, the Norwegian Dale-Skjevdal, and his runner-up, the German Philipp Horn, the only two at 15 out of 15 at that point in the race. But the “Morbac” – his nickname in the French team – could still cling to his podium ambition.
Except that for the gold, Dale-Skjevdal completed the affair with a phenomenal flawless performance on the last one standing, and throughout the race. An extraordinary feat, truly, in such wind. Behind, the inevitable Sturla Laegreid won silver, her fifth personal medal in these Games, but without the slightest gold on the clock. There remained the German Horn, who missed a target. But Fillon Maillet too, on his final ball. Infuriating. The Jura man came out a few seconds behind his opponent, who kept his head as long as he could. Before giving in on the last climb, leaving the Frenchman happy to bring his medal record at the Winter Games to nine. And the French biathlon pushed his personal counter to eleven.
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