A new full box. Since the Olympic Games, Quentin Fillon Maillet has flown over the Kontoliathi stage with two successes in the sprint and then the pursuit and here he is who has just done it again this Thursday with an eighth victory this season, during the sprint in Otepaa. Once again impeccable in shooting, the Jura player made the difference on skis to finally beat the Norwegian Sturla Laegreid by 7 seconds and the German Benedikt Doll by 11 seconds.
And the image of the arrival of the double Olympic champion perfectly symbolizes this ease since he tumbled like a rocket to come and complete his 10 kilometers overtaking two opponents who seemed not to advance so much the difference in speed was important.
This new victory brings him closer to the small globe of the specialty but also and above all to a first big crystal globe in his career. In fact, four events from the end of the season, he now has a 225-point lead over an Emilien Jacquelin penalized by an ugly 6 out of 10 in shooting and only 32nd in the sprint at 1′27′ ‘from his compatriot.
It will therefore be enough for the double Olympic champion to finish at least 23rd in the mass start on Saturday to be crowned and become the 4th Frenchman to finish the season in the position of world N.1 after Patrice Bailly-Salins (1994), Raphaël Poirée (2000, 2001, 2002, 2004) and Martin Fourcade (from 2012 to 2018).
