Fillon Maillet, already in silver on the mixed relay a week ago, brings the seventh medal to the French delegation – one in gold and six in silver – while the Blues remained on two consecutive days without a medal.
9/10 shooting
On the Chinese site, Fillon Maillet made a small error in shooting lying down and then proved to be perfect in shooting standing up. Thanks to this 9/10 in shooting, he finished 25 seconds behind Johannes Boe, a fault also behind his rifle. Accusing more than thirty seconds from the exit of the second shot, “QFM” managed to reduce the gap of about ten seconds on the youngest of the Boe brothers, while Tarjei Boe, eldest brother of Johannes, took the bronze medal.
“I don’t know how Johannes felt today but I lacked a bit of energy. If I had succeeded in everything in shooting, it would have been tight to get the gold medal. But I’m on the right track and I’m very happy to have this third medal in three races. It’s the perfect path,” commented Fillon Maillet. “A second place is already not bad at the Olympic Games. »
The pursuit on Sunday
The French biathlete will therefore start 25 seconds behind Johannes Boe in pursuit (12.5 km), scheduled for this Sunday (11:45 a.m. French time), for a duel between the two great men of this biathlon fortnight at the Games of Beijing.
Sacred in the mixed relay and in the sprint, bronze medalist in the individual, Johannes Boe took a small lead over Quentin Fillon Maillet, also three medals, one in gold and two in silver.
At the age of 29, the Jurassien has achieved almost perfect Olympic Games and will be a contender for a new podium in pursuit. However, the signals had gone a little orange with a less easy recovery than expected after the demands on Tuesday, the day of his race, and Wednesday, the day of his podium.
Martin Fourcade, the reference in tricolor biathlon, returned with three medals from Sochi in 2014 (gold in individual and pursuit, silver in mass start) and with three medals from Pyeongchang in 2018 (all gold: pursuit, mass start, relay mixed).