Five-time Olympic medalist in Beijing and winner of the big crystal globe last winter, Fillon Maillet only ranked fifteenth in the Finnish night, penalized by two faults committed on his first shot and pushed back with his 18/20 to 2 min 42 sec 9/10th of the winner of the day, the Swede Martin Ponsiluoma.

"I'm not worried, just disappointed with the race of the day. I'm here to win, and today I'm far from it", notes "QFM".

"I don't put these faults on stress, it's more a bit of inattention to the technical points that I had to put in place, it's sure that it doesn't put you in great conditions" but "I 'I quickly took over the situation,' explains the 30-year-old from the Jura.

The best Frenchman was Fabien Claude, ninth with also an 18/20 but a little faster on skis (+2:07.05).

No tricolor biathlete invited to the flower ceremony, which rewards the first six of each race, it simply had not happened last winter!

This is a first since the final stage of the 2020/2021 season, in March 2021 in Östersund (Sweden).

"Nothing to worry about"

"I don't think there is anything to be worried about," said Emilien Jacquelin, only 28th after four faults on Tuesday.

We see that Fabien (Claude) and I are still present during skiing despite the (possible) optimization of the equipment.

Quentin corrects the shot behind his first.

We are ready, we know it.

We just have to stay the course, keep confidence in ourselves, in our abilities, and keep working."

"Overall the French team did not have excellent skis" but "the technicians may also need to calibrate", excuses Fillon Maillet.

Young Eric Perrot (21) ranked 25th despite two missed targets.

As for "QFM", disappointment for the other big favorite, the Norwegian Johannes Boe, only twelfth after four faults on the shooting range (+2:25.2).

Even clearly author of the best time of ski, the quadruple Olympic champion of Beijing and triple winner of the big crystal globe, could not compensate on the track for his inaccuracy behind the rifle.

His compatriots Sturla Laegreid (2 faults) and Vetle Christiansen (1) finished sixth and seventh.

With a 19/20 in shooting, Ponsiluoma offered him his very first success in the World Cup, at 27, with a comfortable margin.

The 2021 world champion in the sprint and 2022 Olympic vice-champion in the mass start won in 49 min 36 sec 5/10th in front of two surprise guests, the Swiss Niklas Hartweig (22 years old, +37.2) and the German David Zobel (26 years old, +59.3), authors of the only two full cards in the race.

Neither had ever stood on a World Cup podium.

Hartweig had never even done better than a 17th place, and Zobel an eighth.

© 2022 AFP