To reach the planned total of 15 podiums, France is counting heavily on the 24-year-old from the Vosges to bring down a new medal in the blue purse which totals 12 (3 gold, 7 silver and 2 bronze), half of which came from biathlon, in particular thanks to Quentin Fillon Maillet (5).

One statistic, however, calls for caution in predicting the name of the next Olympic champion on the Yanqinq track, 75 km northwest of Beijing: six slaloms contested this season in the World Cup, six different winners!

Clément Noël, Sebastian Foss-Solevaag, Johannes Strolz, Lucas Braathen, Dave Ryding and Linus Strasser each have one success.

At the end of the first run, Noël is 6th, 38/100th behind Strolz, already winner of the Olympic combined in Beijing.

Beijing-2022: the twelve French medals Kenan AUGEARD AFP

Alexis Pinturault, down on these Olympics and hit in the shoulder during the combined on February 10, is too far after the first pass (15th provisional at 1 sec 20/100th) to hope - except exploit - to be added to the list of winners.

"It's crazy! I don't have the impression that the level is denser or better than last year, but the races are quite crazy, without hierarchy", explained before the slalom Noël, 4th of the 2018 Olympics. .

Day of respite for Valieva?

"Crazy" is also an adjective that suits biathlon, like the incredible outcome of the men's relay on Tuesday, which allowed Quentin Fillon Maillet and his band to climb on the second step of the podium, behind the Norway by Johannes Boe.

And the French hope to get their rifle out of the game during the relay, with an unsurprising composition in which we find Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet, silver medalist in the individual at the start of the Olympics.

Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet during the individual biathlon, February 7, 2022 at the Beijing Olympics Tobias SCHWARZ AFP / Archives

A few hectometres away, and while the great cold is still raging in Zhangjiakou, with temperatures around -20°C, tricolor cross-country skiing is also in a position of contenders.

The Jouve-Lapalus pair embarked on the team sprint, classic style, with the hope of doing at least as well as in the relay (3rd).

In figure skating, the day should finally allow Russian skater Kamila Valieva, 15, to breathe a little and prepare for Thursday's free program of which she is the huge favorite after Tuesday's short program which she dominated.

Unless new revelations, concerning his positive doping control at the end of December which does not however prevent him from participating in the Games, still come to weigh down the heavy atmosphere which has reigned around the ice rink and the Russian camp for a week and the announcement of the positive result of the test carried out on December 25.

hockey medal day

The New York Times revealed that Valieva had two other substances in her system, in addition to the detected product, trimetazidine, which could be used to treat heart problems.

Russian Kamila Valieva during the short program of the Beijing Olympics, February 15, 2022 Manan VATSYAYANA AFP

According to documents presented to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Sunday, obtained by the New York Times, the Stockholm laboratory that examined the sample also found traces of hypoxene and L -Carnitine, which is not on the list of substances prohibited by the authorities.

On Monday, the teenager saw the lifting of her provisional suspension decided by the Russian anti-doping agency (Rusada) confirmed by the CAS, without the latter pronouncing on the merits of the case.

Russian media reported that Valieva drank from the same glass as her grandfather, who takes trimetazidine for a heart condition, while her mother cited arrhythmia issues to justify the other products.

On another ice, that of ice hockey, collective sport king of the Winter Olympics, it is the day of the first medals.

Finland and Switzerland will battle it out for bronze in the "small" final before the United States-Canada duel for gold on Thursday.

© 2022 AFP