Boe, 9 out of 10 behind the rifle but so far above the lot on skis, pushed his nearest competitors more than thirty seconds before Saturday's pursuit: Sweden's Martin Ponsiluoma, also second with a fault, finished at 31 sec 4/10th, and the Norwegian Sturla Laegreid, third and clear in shooting, at 37 sec 3/10th.

The margin of the youngest of the Boe brothers (29 years old) on the track is striking: she exceeded forty seconds on the second best time of the day on Friday.

"It's incredible what he's doing, greets Emilien Jacquelin at the microphone of the L'Equipe channel, sixth at 1 min 07 sec 05/10th behind the insatiable Norwegian with a missed target and best Frenchman of the day.

"For the record, we did the race watch scrub together yesterday (Thursday): on the first part, I was skiing in front, and on the second, he humiliated me, there is no other word,” he says.

"What satisfies me is that it is done in a little more calm and serenity", appreciates the double world champion in pursuit of his sixth place.

Worse winter result for QFM

If Jacquelin confirms that he is finding color after having had his morale at half mast and having gone green for a few days at the beginning of January, this is not the case for Fillon Maillet.

With three faults on the shooting range - two lying down and one standing - the Jura player only ranked twentieth, his worst result of the winter, and will start 1 min 46 sec 5/10ths behind the start of the pursuit, the last individual race before the World Championships in Germany.

Quentin Fillon Maillet on the track of the biathlon sprint event in Antholz-Anterselva, January 20, 2023 © Vincenzo PINTO / AFP

"Overall I was very poor at shooting in this race" while "I had good feelings on skis", laments QFM, who has only been on the podium since the start of the season.

"I expect better than that, he repeats to the L'Equipe channel. At least in terms of shooting. At the physical level, I give the maximum. But I have the ability to be much better at shooting, it's very annoying to make mistakes like these. I hope to be better on the chase, I say that every time, I have to apply it now..."

Fillon Maillet is only the fourth Frenchman of the day, behind Jacquelin, Fabien Claude, 8th at 1 min 26 sec, and Antonin Guigonnat, 19th at 1 min 46 sec 4/10th.

Far from the worries of the holder of the big crystal globe, Boe continues to panic the statistics: the Norwegian has now dominated the first five sprints of the season, unheard of, the first five individual races of 2023 (plus the men's relay with his teammates), and ten of the thirteen contested since the beginning of winter.

He is also on a streak of twelve consecutive individual podium finishes.

The French Quentin Fillon Maillet and Emilien Jacquelin before the 10 km sprint of Antholz-Anterselva, January 20, 2023 © Vincenzo PINTO / AFP

"He's from another galaxy," admires Laegreid.

In the general classification of the World Cup, he inevitably prances in the lead with more than 200 points ahead of Laegreid.

His pace is so hellish that he already has more points (1049) than Fillon Maillet at the end of the previous season (984).

© 2023 AFP