Ltricolor cross-country skiing won its first medal of the 2022 Olympic Games, in bronze, on Sunday February 13 in Beijing thanks to the men’s 4 x 10 km relay. Les Bleus, who even came close to winning the silver, finished behind the untouchable Russians and Norwegians.
What does it matter if Maurice Manificat, the last torchbearer and leader of the Blues, had to let the Norwegian cador Johannes Klaebo go in the final, his teammates Clément Parisse, Richard Jouve and Hugo Lapalus exulted as he passed the line, throwing himself into each other’s arms and grabbing a huge tricolor flag. Even if this third place in the relay was starting to look like a French property – since the Blues were also on the last step of the podium at the last Worlds last year in Oberstdorf – the fortnight had started badly for the tricolor cross-country skiers.
But Maurice Manificat confirmed his rise to power in these Games. “Momo”, whose preparation was disrupted by pubalgia then a rib injury following a fall, had been set back in the first event, the skiathlon, in which he was ranked 23rdandbut had found some color in the classic 15 km on Friday (12and). When Finns, Germans and finally Swedes exploded in the chasing group, the Blues held on.
Manificat, the now quadruple bronze medalist, was the last of the rest of the world – excluding Russians and Norwegians – to crack in the almost blizzard of Zhangjiakou, – 13 ° C on the thermometer and snow galore. Extreme conditions in which the Blues have surpassed themselves.
“We are mountain dwellers”
“Between the hard track, the cold plus the altitude (1,600 meters) and the wind which give feelings of lack of oxygen, the mind will be predominant”, predicted before the start of the events the director of the French teams of cross-country skiing, Olivier Michaud. “It’s a register that suits us, we are mountain people, we are used to it. “They had also shown it in Ruka (Finland) in November: when the Norwegians, including Johannes Klaebo but also the Finn Iivo Niskanen, had zapped the pursuit due to the polar cold. Hugo Lapalus and Clément Parisse had started.
Lapalus’ signature mustache (15and) had ended up bleached by the frost in a comic book image accentuated by its airs of Asterix. “We are a really close-knit team, really strong, we work for each other”, announced the 23-year-old cross-country skier on Tuesday, the latest born of a French cross-country skier in full affirmation. “There is really room to do something good, very good,” he said. There are teams that are not necessarily to their advantage here. They make the Norwegians medals, but they are not as imposing as they could be at the beginning of the season. This year, we can really get them. »
It took little, less than ten seconds. The Russians were out of reach, relegating Team “Norge” to more than a minute. Beyond the arch-dominating Bolshunov, who won a third medal in China after the gold in the skiathlon and the silver in the 15 km classic, this new success draws supremacy in cross-country skiing in these 2022 Olympics. After the victory of the Russian cross-country skiers already in the relay the day before, a seventh medal falls into the hands of the Russian Olympic Committee, Russia being officially excluded for institutional doping.