Biathlon: flowers for Quentin Fillon-Maillet and Eric Perrot
During the men’s individual short race at the Kontiolahti Biathlon World Cup (Finland) held late on Tuesday afternoon, the French team put in a fine performance. Of the six biathletes competing, Quentin Fillon-Maillet (18/20), fifth, and Eric Perrot (19/20), sixth, put in the best performances.
For the two Frenchmen, the podium was not far off. “We did a great job. There‘ s a little bit missing in the shooting to be able to go after the three Norwegians in front, their coach Simon Fourcade told La Chaîne L’Equipe in the mixed zone. It’s a good individual start, building on the momentum of the relay, even if we didn’t do 100% of the work.”
A great Quentin Fillon-Maillet on the track
The main thing he missed was one or two balls on the shooting range. “I’m happy with my overall performance. There were some interesting things on the skis and I was able to enjoy myself. But you know the rules of the game and you have to shoot as perfectly as possible, explained Quentin Fillon-Maillet from the Jura. That’s what we lacked. With a full shooting, we could have gone ahead. There are some positive things.”
Happy with the way he did it and the way he felt, the Grandvallier is off to a great start to his winter. Above all, he showed himself to be at ease on the cross-country track, perhaps in a way he hasn’t been for two years. “I felt reassured,” he confirms.
Eric Perrot one bullet away from 20/20
For his part, Peiserot Eric Perrot, after an impressive 19/19, missed the last target of his round. “I’ve never shot 20/20 in a World Cup, of course I think about it, but I wasn’t necessarily nervous [when I shot]. I knew what I had to do, which was to validate five balls in a row. I was in that frame of mind and, with the fatigue and lack of concentration, I didn’t finish that last ball properly and it went out. It’s frustrating,” he explains.
The Savoyard’s biggest frustration in the individual short was his performance on cross-country skis (only twentieth, 1 min 20 seconds behind the leader). “I didn’t manage to deliver my best skiing, mainly because I had difficulty managing the changes in snow conditions between the shiny snow in the centre of the piste and the slower snow on the sides. I didn’t do too badly, but it was frustrating,” said Eric Perrot.
With sixth place, he has made a positive start to his winter and will be looking to confirm this in the sprint in two days’ time.
- The full programme for the Kontiolahti World Cup, the first stage of the 2024/2025 season
- Corinne Niogret: my best memory of… Kontiolahti
- Top 3 nations cup target for France: the hunt for Olympic quotas for Milan/Cortina 2026, the other key issue of the 2024/2025 season
- Kontiolahti: Julia Simon undergoes an MRI scan early this afternoon
- After the opening relays, what is the programme for the second week of the Kontiolahti World Cup?
- Kontiolahti: where does Emilien Jacquelin’s “Night Night” celebration at the relay finish line come from?
- Kontiolahti: Julia Simon undergoes an MRI scan early this afternoon
- Kontiolahti: still uncertain about Julia Simon’s state of health on the eve of the individual short event
- “I can’t wait to see how he performs”, “He’s progressed, he deserves it”: Emilien Claude’s return to the World Cup is a source of great joy to those close to him, Anna Gandler and Fabien Claude.
- “It’s time for me to come into my own and become the biathlete I was a few years ago”: Fabien Claude, the winter of affirmation at last?
- Kontiolahti: Endre Stroemsheim, at 20/20, beats Johannes Thingnes Boe in the individual short, Quentin Fillon-Maillet and Eric Perrot with the flowers
- Kontiolahti: for the first time in his career, Endre Stroemsheim will don the yellow World Cup leader’s bib
- “My best race ever”: Endre Stroemsheim and the Norwegians put everyone in agreement at Kontiolahti
