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Even without its retired champion, the tricolor delegation is able to beat its record of medals on the shooting range of the Beijing Games, carried by a new generation that has reached maturity.
Between five and ten. This is, depending on the state of form of each other, and depending on the weather and health hazards, the number of medals that the French biathlon should bring back during these 2022 Games. Ambitions trumpeted, to the point that the biathlon Frenchman seems even more greedy than four years ago, when he still had Martin Fourcade in his ranks, and already brought back five medals, three of which thanks to the same Fourcade. In the meantime, the Catalan ogre has definitely put away rifle and spatulas, giving birth to a nagging question: would the next generation be able to fill the void left by the Pyrenean?
Medal goals speak for themselves. Invited to explain his four choices for the first event of the mixed relay (this Saturday, at 10 a.m.), the director of the French team, Stéphane Bouthiaux, sets the tone in two sentences: “We are clearly aiming for at least a medal. We are the title holder, with the two best boys in the world and two girls having both achieved several podiums this winter, of course we have this ambition.
Generation change
A perfect summary of the start of winter 2021-2022: in the men’s category, Quentin Fillon Maillet and Emilien Jacquelin are struggling in the…