Kontiolahti: France third in the men’s relay, Norway wins the specialty globe

No small relay globe for the Blues. First of all, we had to win in Kontiolahti but Antonin Guigonnat, Émilien Jacquelin, Simon Desthieux and Quentin Fillon Maillet could not do better than a third place on Friday in Finland. And count on a crack of the Norwegians. Even deprived of Johannes and Tarjei Boe, they managed to win thanks to Vetle Christiansen, who was decidedly very solid as the last torchbearer. Sweden, second, completes the podium while Germany finishes fourth.

An eighth place was enough to validate this specialty globe for the Norwegians. Sivert Bakken, Filip Andersen, Sturla Laegreid and Vetle Christiansen ended in style with another victory for the Olympic relay champions. Despite three standing shooting faults for Bakken and Andersen far from the level of Jacquelin on skis, they were back in the race for victory thanks to Laegreid before Christiansen proved to be the strongest on the shooting range.

Four men for a success

At the start of the last relay, France, Sweden, Norway and Germany were neck and neck to fight for victory. For Quentin Fillon Maillet, Sebastian Samuelsson, Vetle Christiansen and Philipp Nawrath everything still remained to be done. As usual for several stints, the Norwegian was the strongest. Especially when shooting standing where he was the only one to achieve 5/5. He did the whole of the last lap alone in the lead and never gave the others the opportunity to come back.

Author of a slower prone shot due to a problem with his rifle, Fillon Maillet had to make the effort to come back to Samuelsson and Christiansen. An effort that he paid off at the end when he was unable to follow the Swede on the climb. The second place soared, the five-time Olympic medalist still managed to keep a place on the podium by being stronger than the German in the sprint.

If the Blues were able to fight at the forefront, it was also thanks to an exceptional stint from Émilien Jacquelin. Second torchbearer, he was 17 seconds behind leader Rees. With a standing shot and supersonic speed on skis, he quickly took the lead to finish his passage 25 seconds ahead of his first pursuer. Norway-Sweden-France, the big names were present for this recovery relay after the Olympic Games.