- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,150,572
- Reaction score
- 59
You must be registered for see images attach
France's gold medallist Quentin Fillon Maillet kisses his medal in celebration after the Men's Biathlon 10km Sprint Event at the Anterselva Biathlon Arena during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games. Hendrik Schmidt/dpa
France's Quentin Fillon Maillet shot clean to power to Olympic biathlon gold in the men's 10 kilometre sprint on Friday - and then lauded his girlfriend for her backing.
Fillon Maillet had also helped France to mixed relay glory on Sunday and previously took Olympic gold in 2022 in the pursuit and 20 kilometres.
"I want to dedicate my race today to my girlfriend because we are expecting a baby, and she has supported me for many years and helped me be here today," the 33-year-old told reporters about his most cherished of four Olympic golds.
"That is my happiness. I love it. I love this sport, and it is everything today."
He won by 13.7 seconds from Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen.
Fellow Norwegian Sturla Holm Lægreid, who has made waves at Milan/Cortina for revealing an affair, took bronze just ahead of Emilien Jacquelin.
"We prepared well with the team and finally the margins are on my side again," said defending World Cup champion Lægreid, who also claimed bronze over 20km on Tuesday.
"I took it one step at a time and didn’t look too far ahead. I worked with what I could do here."
Lægreid had apologized to his team on Thursday for stealing all the headlines following his public confession of infidelity after his 20km bronze.
Frenchman Jacquelin missed the podium by two-tenths of a second but at least improved on his 55th place in the 20km, with Sweden's Sebastian Samuelsson fifth.
He later made barbed comments towards Lægreid.
The top five were all perfect with the rifle.
On Tuesday, Norway's Johan-Olav Botn hit all 20 targets to claim gold in the 20km, but was eighth on Friday ahead of French World Cup leader Eric Perrot.
The next Olympic biathlon race is on Saturday when the women race in a 7.5km sprint.
Continue reading...
