“This morning, I thought it might be Uldal Day. I need to stop having this type of thinking! » At the finish of the sprint, Émilien Jacquelin prefers to laugh about it. Stratospheric, the young Norwegian Martin Uldal, 23, who started before all the favorites, won his first victory in the World Cup, ahead of his compatriot Johannes Boe, 2nd by just over a second, despite a fault in the shot. Excluded from the podium, the French made a group shot: Éric Perrot is 7th (with 10/10 shooting), Émilien Jacquelin 8th and Quentin Fillon Maillet, 10th.
On Saturday, the Blues will leave in groups during the pursuit. “I was dreading this sprint at home,” Jacquelin breathes, “so I’m neither disappointed nor satisfied. Physically, I’m good, I make a mistake on every shot, a lack of concentration I think. On the first ball in the prone shot, I hear the announcer speaking, it shows that the mind was elsewhere. The stress is now over, now we will really be able to enter the races. I expect great things in the pursuit. »
No drama, either, on the side of Quentin Fillon Maillet. “It was tough, a real fight on the track. I felt like I was doing well, in the end I had a good time on the track! I felt good on the shooting range, I had real revenge to take on myself compared to the two previous editions, I think I succeeded in my own challenge, he says. Obviously I would have liked to be in front, but I had a solid race and that bodes well for the future. With an atmosphere like this, anything is possible. » Especially since if the sprint took place under a deluge, the conditions should be more acceptable, at least on Friday (women’s sprint) and Saturday (men’s and women’s pursuit).
𝗨𝗻 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗲𝘂 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗹𝗮 𝗽𝗹𝘂𝗶𝗲 ❤️🔥🇫🇷
World Cup kick-off @BiathlonALGB with 3 blues in the TOP 10 of the sprint ⤵️
Eric Perrot 7️⃣
Emilien Jacquelin 8️⃣
Quentin Fillon Maillet 🔟Thank you to the 11,000 people present today 🤩 pic.twitter.com/ANdto6lCLM
— FFS – French Ski Federation (@FedFranceSki) December 19, 2024
“The rain doesn’t change much for us in terms of performance, we have more than 160 pulses throughout the race, we don’t have time to get cold,” says Éric Perrot. I worry more about the audience than myself in those moments! » On his performance, the Frenchman, lifelong friend of the winner of the day (his mother is Norwegian, his grandparents close to those of Uldal) hoped for a little better.
“The last ball escaped me, but it was much better than the last individual races that I was able to do in terms of shooting,” he says. On the skis, it’s a bit of a point of incomprehension, the sensations are good but the weather is not what I expected. It remains playable in pursuit. In any case, it was a joy to run home. From the warm-up, we felt a real atmosphere. I can’t wait until Saturday! »
