In the aftermath of the money won by Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet, French brings a new medal to the tricolor delegation, the first in gold.
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The days follow each other and look alike for the French biathletes: after the silver medal of the mixed relay Saturday, then that of Anais Chevalier-Bouchet on the individual Monday, it is the turn of Quentin Fillon Mallet of shine in the men’s version of the same event, Tuesday, February 8th. The current leader of the World Cup had warned: at the Beijing Olympic Winter Games, he will play all the races “the knife between the teeth”. It is with this rage of victory that “QFM” came to win his first Olympic title; The fifth medal of the tricolor contingent, the first of the most beautiful metal. The Belarusian Anton Smolski and Norwegian Johannes Boe, second and third, complete the podium.
As in the women’s event, the day before, the 92 committed have been able to take advantage of less extreme conditions than those they had met since their arrival in China (- 6 ° C and a moderate wind despite some gusts) To browse the 20 kilometers of this endurance race, punctuated with four passages on the firing step – in a sequence lying, standing, lying, standing -, where every fault on the firing step translates with a minute of penalty. Chrono.
Bib 11 on the back and favorite of these Olympics, “QFM” was expected. Yet it had not been illustrated in this race format this season: 20 e of the individual in Antholz-Anterselva (Italy), at the end of January; 8 e from that of Ostersund (Sweden), in November 2021. But its incredible beginning of exercise on the world tour (seven podiums, including five victories, in fifteen individual races) and its strength during Mixed relay (1 pioche), Saturday, left little room for doubts.
Track “Cut” for him, according to Bjoerndalen
The Legend of Biathlon, the Norwegian Ole-Einar Bjoerdalen, the man at the thirteen Olympic titles who became coach of China, had warned: the track of the Zhangkjiakou site is “carved” for him. In fact, Tuesday, his speed on the skis allowed him to erase his two errors on the shooting pitch (18/20), putting more than 30 seconds in Norwegian Johannes Boe, despite his two faults behind the rifle. The Belarusian Anton Smolski, will accuse a disbursement of more than two minutes, despite his 20/20 shooting.
It is the eyes turned to Norway that the French knew they would find their principal rivals of the day, in the first place of which the brothers Johannes and Tarjei Boe, already sacred on the stadium of Zhangjiakou in mixed relay. Tarje Boe, current 4 e of the general classification of the World Cup, is the winner of the globe of specialty this season.
His cadet, Johannes, if only four victories on the individual on his 53 recorded in his career on the world tour, was nonetheless the Olympic champion. And, if the 28-year-old biathlete seemed more worth this season (three individual podiums including a victory in 2021-2022), he has already impressed on these games in China, during the mixed relay.
There are still four races to play for male biathletes: the Sprint of February 12, the pursuit of the 13th, the relay of the 15th and the mass start (grouped departure) of 18.