His demonstration in the individual on Tuesday is still in everyone's mind: with his hellish train on skis, "QFM" sickened the competition and won, despite his two penalty minutes, the first Olympic title of his career.

At the end of 20 km, the Jurassic was ahead of the Belarusian Anton Smolski and especially his great rival and defending champion, the Norwegian Johannes Boe.

Between them, Fillon Maillet and Boe have won four medals and two titles since their arrival in China.

They will therefore logically be the favorites of this sprint where, over such a short distance (10 km), no error, or almost, is tolerated during the two passages on the launch pad (lying down then standing up).

But the French N.1, leader of the World Cup, refuses to present the sprint as a simple duel against the youngest of the Boe brothers: "I'm not only fighting against the Norwegians, but against a whole bunch of athletes" , he swept away.

Among his many rivals, he could rank his teammate Emilien Jacquelin, very revengeful after his 72nd place in the individual (with seven shooting penalties!), especially since the sprint conditions a lot the course of the pursuit scheduled for Sunday, including Jacquelin is a two-time reigning world champion.

Finally fresh snow

Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron also have revenge to take.

In 2018, they were big favorites in the ice dance event, but their title hopes were dashed from their short dance following a clothing mishap when the choker that held the green fringed top and yellows of the skater had detached from the first seconds.

The French Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron in training before the ice dance event of the Beijing Olympics, February 9, 2022 Anne-Christine POUJOULAT AFP / Archives

They had finally won silver and despite their impressive track record (quadruple world champions and five-time European champions), the incident continues to stick to their skin.

"Obviously it wasn't easy, but it made us stronger," says Guillaume Cizeron.

"It's not necessarily the most pleasing thing, but it's part of my history, of our career. It's something that follows me, which now makes me laugh more than anything else. But I can't wait let's talk about something else anyway", adds his partner.

Their Games start Friday at 9:50 p.m. local (2:50 p.m. French) with the main opponents the Russians Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov, the only ones to have beaten them since the Olympic Games-2018, in January 2020 at the European Championships.

The tricolor camp started its day with a double disappointment: its two duos engaged in team snowboardcross, with in particular the 2022 Olympic vice-champion Chloé Trespeuch, did not go beyond the quarter-final stage, visibly lacking in slip under the snow that finally whitens the Olympic mountains.

The French Chloe Trespeuch and Merlin Surget after the quarter-finals of the team snowboardcross event, February 12, 2022 at the Beijing Olympics Marco BERTORELLO AFP

The CAS officially seized

In the Valieva case, named after the Russian figure skating prodigy who tested positive for a banned substance before the 2022 Olympics, the Court of Arbitration for Sport announced that it had been seized by the International Olympic Committee and by the Agency World Anti-Doping.

The TAS, which must rule on the decision of the Russian anti-doping agency to lift the provisional suspension of Valieva, did not give more details on the progress of its procedure, but there is urgency.

The women's event, of which Valieva is the big favorite, begins on Tuesday.

© 2022 AFP