from 17th place to the bronze medal, the crazy comeback of the men’s relay

A spectacular final relay from Quentin Fillon Maillet gave France an unexpected bronze medal at the World Championships in Nove Mesto (Czech Republic) on Saturday.

There was no mist in Nove Mesto (Czech Republic), Saturday February 17, for the penultimate day of the Worlds, but we had to rub our eyes at the crazy scenario at the end of the men’s relay. Seventeenth during the first relay, the French quartet snatched a delicious bronze medal, at the cost of a phenomenal final pass from Quentin Fillon Maillet.

“When I saw, at the start of the race, that we had used nine pickaxe balls in three laps, I said to myself that that would be a lot. But in biathlon, you never know,” reacted “QFM” on La Chaîne L’Equipe. After encouraging the second torchbearer, Fabien Claude, “to give the maximum”the captain of the French team went into it blind. “I didn’t know my position, it just seemed to me that Emilien [Jacquelin] was out almost a minute after his last shot.”

Fillon Maillet took advantage of the catastrophic shot – and the three penalty rounds that went with it – from the last Norwegian shooter, Vetle Christiansen, to get back into the race. To the point of sprinting, in the last 500 meters, for second place. Hence a slight bitterness when commenting on the bronze medal, his third personal achievement in Nove Mesto: “When I see that we finished 12 seconds from the title, with a slightly more successful race, we could have gone for the gold medal.”

“I did not believe it anymore”

It was ultimately Sweden who took advantage of the windfall, but upon arrival, the Tricolores found it hard to believe their epic comeback. “I missed my race, admitted the first torchbearer, Eric Perrot. Then Fabien dug the grave. Thanks to Emilien and Quentin for making us experience these emotions when I no longer believed in them. The podium is magical.”

It enhances a lukewarm winter, so far, for the men’s relay, which did no better than two second places in Östersund and Hochfilzen. Above all, this second medal of the day, after the triumph of the relentless women’s relay, brings the French tally to 10 medals (five gold, one silver, three bronze), at the top of the medal rankings before the final events on Sunday, the men’s and women’s mass starts , with new chances of a podium.