Quentin Fillon Maillet won his second gold on Sunday in the 12.5km Biathlon – a combination of cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It's France's 10th medal (2 gold, 6 silver, 2 bronze), putting it in 10th place overall.
Fillon Maillet's hopes of another Olympic medal nearly came unstuck at the first shoot on Sunday when he found the path of his bullets blocked by ice in his magazine at a freezing National Biathlon Centre in Zhangjiakou.
Thankfully, he was able to dislodge the ice in time before going on to hit all 20 of his shots and bagging the 12.5 km pursuit gold in the process, his fourth of the Games so far.
"There was a little bit of ice on my magazine and it would not go down [into the rifle]. I had big gloves on today because of the cold and it was difficult to get it down normally, it just went down a little bit late today," he told reporters.
With his fingers hindered by his larger, warmer gloves, he resorted to slamming the weapon with the heel of his hand before firing off a salvo of five perfect shots in severe weather conditions, with driving snow and strong winds.
"I worked a lot this summer to prepare for these conditions, with the cold, with the rain, and today that is the gift of my profession," he said.
"It's incredible to do it again, to be in the medals – four races, four medals."
Fillon Maillet won gold in the individual race, plus silvers in the sprint and mixed relay before adding Sunday's win to the pile.
The 29-year-old tweeted a photo of him surrounded with his team: "I have a real laugh with them, but above all it's thanks to them I'm winning".
Mon équipe 🤝. C’est avec eux que je me marre, mais c’est surtout grâce à eux que je gagne 🔥 pic.twitter.com/H276kyHcaY
— Quentin Fillon Maillet (@quentinfillon) February 10, 2022
10 medals and counting
Norway leads the medal table with 21 (9 gold) followed by Germany with 14 (8 gold) and the US 12 (6 gold).
France is in 10th position, and has won the following medals:
- Silver, Biathlon mixed relay team: Anais Chevalier-Bouchet, Quentin Fillon Maillet, Emilien Jacquelin and Julia Simon.
- Silver, downhill alpine skiing: Johan Clarey
- Silver, individual biathlon: Anais Chevalier-Bouchet
- Silver, Big air freestyle skiing: Tess Ledeux
- Silver, women's snowboard cross: Chloé Trespech
- Silver, Biathlon sprint, Quentin Fillon Maillet
- Bronze, Giant slalom alpine skiing: Mathieu Faivre
- Bronze, 4 x 10 km relay in cross-country skiing: Richard Jouve, Hugo Lapalus, Clémént Pariss, Maurice Manificat
The US, Australia and Britain are among several Western nations which have refused to send officials to the Games in order to send a message to China over its human rights record.
France has not joined the diplomatic boycott. In December, President Emmanuel Macron called such a move "insignificant".
“To be clear: You either have a complete boycott, and not send athletes, or you try to change things with useful actions,” Macron said.
