The snow, announced as the great absence of these Beijing Games, disrupted the program, with the postponement of slopestyle skiing qualifications and the cancellation of the second training session for the women's downhill.

From Pyeongchang to Beijing, QFM has changed a lot.

In 2018, he missed his first Olympic meeting, plagued by personal problems.

Since his arrival in China, the Jura, who arrived with the status of leader of the World Cup, is without rival, or almost.

Like him, the Norwegian Johannes Boe monopolized the podium in Zhangjiakou with three medals in as many races.

But the youngest of the Boe brothers already has two 2022 Olympic titles in his pocket, one more than Fillon Maillet, after his success in the mixed relay and the sprint on Saturday, which will earn him the lead in the pursuit on Sunday (6:45 p.m. local time). , 11:45 a.m. French).

Fillon Maillet will have to wait 25 sec 5/10, his delay after the sprint, to be able to pursue Boe.

Jacquelin's awakening?

The exercise, with four shooting sessions often in direct confrontation, is successful for QFM, which has signed seven of its twelve World Cup victories there, including four this winter.

"I'm going to approach this race in the same way as the individual, as if nothing was won. I'm in too good a position to let go of things. It can still largely play for the gold if circumstances want to smile", he promised, barely off the sprint podium.

At 29, Fillon Maillet can do better than the one who has long embodied French biathlon and who is also presented as the best biathlete in history: in 2014 and 2018, Martin Fourcade each time won three medals.

Emilien Jacquelin does not run after a myth or a record, but after trust.

The pursuit, of which he won the last two world titles, could make him smile again, especially since he will start in 9th position, but only 27 seconds from the podium.

Frenchman Emilien Jacquelin during the biathlon sprint at the Beijing Olympics, February 12, 2022 Tobias SCHWARZ AFP

To swell the tricolor balance sheet which amounts to seven medals halfway through (one gold, six silver), there are also the... biathletes, of the women's team who will start shortly before their comrades (5:00 p.m. local time) .

If Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet, Olympic vice-champion of the individual, did not cross the cut of the 60 best of the sprint, Anaïs Bescond, 9th of the sprint, can legitimately aim for the podium.

Faivre well placed

Five days after her silver medal in the big air, Tess Ledeux left Beijing for the mountains of Zhangjiakou, but the slopestyle qualifications where she will once again compete with the Chinese phenom Eileen Gu, have been postponed to a date yet to be defined. .

120 km from Zhangjiakou, at the Yanqing site, the visibility was not good either between heavy snowfall and thick fog, but the first round of the giant slalom took place anyway.

Frenchman Mathieu Faivre on the first run of the giant slalom at the Beijing Olympics, February 13, 2022 Jeff PACHOUD AFP

The Swiss Marco Odermatt set the best time, but Mathieu Faivre, reigning world champion in the specialty, and Thibaut Favrot are well placed, respectively 3rd at 8/100th and 5th at 19/100th.

It should be more complicated for Alexis Pinturault, 11th at 1 sec 06/100th, reduced by a shoulder injury after his fall in the combined slalom.

Answer with the second round scheduled for 1:45 p.m. local time, if conditions and snow allow it...

The Blues of cross-country skiing have become used to shining in the 4x10 km relay (3:00 p.m. local time) as evidenced by their bronze medal in 2014 and 2018, but against the Russians, Norwegians, Finns or Swedes, the task of Richard Jouve, Hugo Lapalus, Clément Parisse and Maurice Manificat looks complicated.

© 2022 AFP