Fabien Claude, Emilien Jacquelin, Simon Desthieux and Quentin Fillon-Maillet struggled in shooting but finished on the men's relay podium at the Beijing Games.
The Blues finish behind Norway and ahead of Russia, betrayed by a last catastrophic standing shot from Latypov.
This is the first French medal in the men's relay since the 2006 Olympics in Turin.
From our special correspondent in Quentin Fillon-Maillet's living room (in China),
Once is not custom, do not blame us if we start this paper by talking about something other than the new (silver) French biathlon medal, acquired during the relay Tuesday afternoon at the end of a superb fight with the Norwegians, in gold, the Russians, in bronze and the Germans in chocolate.
No, we'll start by sending a friendly message to Latypov, who we would advise not to return to the country too early, the time that the officials forget.
Forget that before the last standing shot, the ROC team had a waterbed lead over their three pursuers and the gold could not escape them.
That was before the last Russian torchbearer cracked in widths that we had never seen before.
In his defense – we were right behind him when he cocked his shot – a weirdo from the cleaning department couldn't find anything better to do than get out his snow blower to brick a damn carpet that absolutely didn't bother us ANYBODY.
Two members of the organization then pounced on him to turn off his decibel hell machine worthy of a subwoofer in a Breton teuf teuf, but the damage was done.
Result, three disgusting faults and two rounds of penalties in the form of a diplomatic gift for Vetle Christiansen and Quentin Fillon Maillet, who will cross the finish line in that order.
A scenario without head or tail
Five, the account is good for QFM.
After making history on Sunday evening, by becoming the first Frenchman ever to win four medals in a single winter Olympics, the Franc-Comtois quietly continues his raid and sets the bar at a height that will be difficult to overcome in the future.
But unlike days past, when he seemed in full control, "Robocop" scared us this Tuesday, displaying a certain feverishness in prone shooting (a mistake, ok, we nitpick), even if his alien thighs allowed him to quickly return to Norway and Germany, in what we then imagined to be a three-way sprint for only two places on the podium.
Until Latypov, whose lack of address cannot entirely rest on the whims of a cleaning guy, completely upsets the situation.
In truth, this race has had so many twists and turns that you get a bit lost in it.
So we're going to let Simon Desthieux redo the match, because he did that wonderfully for us in the mixed zone: "Russia find themselves in the lead quite quickly, the Norwegians take a penalty lap from the first stint and find themselves quite far .
When I saw that during the warm-up, I said to myself that there was really something to do but, in the end, it's like often, Johannes Boe brings Norway right behind me.
He is amazing in these kinds of situations.
This is where it all comes down to them.
Then there's that last shot.
When we see the door opened by the Russian, we see that he is starting to hesitate, we say to ourselves that there is really something to be done and in the end it's great because it's second place.
» Thank you Fabien, you will go to the accounts to get your stamp.
Jacquelin makes an appointment with friends
We would have liked to have QFM's reaction to this first Olympic relay medal since Turin 2006, but the five-time medalist has made his diva (it's okay, we're kidding).
"Too cold," he said before slipping away.
"I answer here, I'm not cold", the Fabien Claude bedroom.
Today it's more than a collective victory, we wonder how it's possible that there hasn't been a relay medal for 16 years and the generation of Raph Poiré, of Vincent Defrasne.
So yeah, this one is beautiful!
".
Simon Desthieux, who has experienced the last two Olympic failures in the relay, adds: "It's true that it was a bit ugly in 2014 and 2018, because we expect so much from this race, for the team, for the staff.
Today we are catching up a bit on these last missed stints and that is a pleasure”.
As the picky coach that he is, Vincent Vittoz does not fail to "regret the gold a little in view of the scenario".
Not so much on Fillon Maillet's last shot (two pickaxes) since the tricolor hero of the Games did not have the atomic legs of the first week, but "more over the course of the race with some imperfections.
“On arrival, if he is choosy, Vittoz ends up letting go of a smile and saying that “this group really deserves it”.
And he won't soon forget it.
Indeed, as of Sunday, at the end of the pursuit, Emilien Jacquelin dreamed of this collective medal in order to be able to remember it between friends, around a wood fire, with a Brandy in one hand and a cigar in the other. .
“It's good, I launched the invitation so that we meet at each Olympiad, when we will all be retired, to watch the men's relay together and remember this wonderful moment, he appreciates.
I have been with this team for four years and have had a wonderful time.
They have become friends, we are all different but we all get along very well and this medal symbolizes all these years spent together.
That's why she was so dear to me.
It goes beyond an Olympic medal, it was to concretize this friendship.
»
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beijing
China
Quentin Fillon Maillet
Simon Desthieux
Emilien Jacquelin
Biathlon
Sport
Winter Olympics 2022
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