Oberhof (Germany) (AFP)
France (Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, Fabien Claude, Quentin Fillon-Maillet) took 3rd place in the Oberhof mixed relay on Sunday, counting for the Biathlon World Cup and won by Russia.
After a very uncertain start to the race, everything was decided on the last standing shot between France, Norway, Russia and Germany.
Quentin Fillon-Maillet, author of a faultless, believed he could offer success to the Blues, reigning Olympic champions in the specialty (with Martin Fourcade in 2018), but he finally cracked in the final by being swallowed on the track by the last Russian and Norwegian torchbearers, who fought for victory in the sprint.
Russia (Kaisheva, Mironova, Loginov, Latypov) finally edged Norway (Tandrevold, Roeiseland, Dale, Laegreid) by 0.7 seconds.
Fillon-Maillet has again noticed his current limits.
Only 84th in the sprint on Friday, the Jurassien, promoted this season leader of the Blues after the retirement of Martin Fourcade, had seen his chances of conquering the big crystal globe, his main objective of the winter, almost reduced to nothing with this counter- performance.
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