The assurance of ending the season with the big crystal globe, which rewards the best biathlete of the World Cup season, did not satisfy Quentin Fillon Maillet. No question of ending the winter ” moderately “he had warned, last Sunday, at the end of the round of Otepää (Estonia).
“Until the last race, I will be present and 100%. I will not give up until the end. »
Friday March 18, during the Oslo sprint – the first of the three races of the final stage of the world circuit – “the morbaque” (the nickname of Fillon Maillet) could not do anything against the Norwegian Sturla Laegreid, imperial on the skis and author of a faultless performance on the launch pad. But the Frenchman finished second, with a 10/10 behind the rifle.
The native of Champagnole (Jura) adds the small sprint globe to his collection, after winning the pursuit one in Estonia. “QFM” will have the opportunity, on Sunday, to expand its record with the globe of the mass start (mass start), of which it currently dominates the classification with 15 points ahead of the Norwegian Vetle Christiansen and 19 over the German Benedikt Doll.
Emilien Jacquelin carries out the bad operation of the day. Only 30and with two faults on his lying shot, he sees the Swede Sebastien Samuelsson, 3and Friday, take him the 2and place in the general classification and his lead melts on his pursuers. Worse, the Isérois will start with more than two minutes behind the head of the race, Saturday, during the pursuit.
Last lap for Desthieux and Besond
Double Olympic champion (individual and pursuit) and five-time medalist in Beijing, Quentin Fillon Maillet has climbed the podium twelve times – including eight victories – in twenty individual races since the start of the season.
“I’m getting close to perfection and I hope I’ll be even better in the future. There are quite a few athletes who had huge seasons and then went downhill. I hope that I will continue to progress and improve to have such great seasons. »
If the new boss of French biathlon does not intend to stop there, this Norwegian stage will however be the last of two other figures of the French clan. After ten and fifteen years respectively on the world circuit, Simon Desthieux and Anaïs Bescond, Olympic champions in the mixed relay in Pyeongchang in 2018, have decided to put their skis and rifle away.
“I want to do something else”, confided the native of Belley (Ain), 30, when he announced his retirement from sport on Thursday. Late winner of two individual events in the World Cup, Simon Desthieux finished 4and overall in 2019 and also has three world championship medals. This year, he added Olympic silver in the men’s relay to his list and, for the first time in his career, even wore the yellow bib of the leader of the World Cup at the start of the season.
At 34, “Nanasse” concludes a career marked by three Olympic medals (gold with the mixed relay and bronze in the pursuit and the women’s relay in South Korea) and eight podiums at the Worlds. True pillar of the Blue and indisputable holder of the French relay, the Jurassienne won only one individual race in the World Cup – the sprint of Antholz-Anterselva (Italy) during the 2013-2014 season. This year, she climbed on two individual podiums: during the pursuit of Ostersund in Sweden (2and) and the sprint in Le Grand-Bornand (2and).
The little sprint globe for Roeiseland
Third, this Friday, behind her compatriot Tiril Eckhoff and the Austrian Lisa Theresa Hauser, the Norwegian Marte Olsbu Roeiseland won the small sprint globe, after having already won that of the pursuit.
Two races from the end of the season, Roeiseland, 31, five-time Olympic medalist in Beijing, took a serious option to afford the first big globe of her career. Her last rival, the Swede Elvira Oeberg will only start the pursuit on Saturday afternoon in 17and position, more than a minute and thirty seconds behind Eckhoff.