Home Pursuit Win for Quentin Fillon Maillet

Clean-shooting Quentin Fillon Maillet closed the Annecy Le Grand Bornand men’s 12.5 km pursuit with two brilliantly fast clean standing stages this afternoon that sealed an emotional and long-awaited victory at home, on French soil in 30:58.3. Russia’s Eduard Latypov, with two penalties, finished second in a photo-finish over Norway’s Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen, who shot clean, 16.1 and 16.2 seconds back, respectively.

Header iconAnnecy Le Grand Bornand Men's 12.5 km Pursuit

Emotion-filled Fillon Maillet

Fillon Maillet was overwhelmed with emotion after the competition. “The most emotions in a race in my career, with the public, for the victory, the last shooting. There was so much emotion. It is so good; so good. I cannot explain my emotions but they are very strong. In the last loop, I could share with the public, my coach…it was very good.”

“Felt like Martin Fourcade”

The French star knew everything depended on the last standing stage, where he felt like a former teammate. “After the first standing shooting, I came back into the lead with some advantage. In the last shooting I knew that I would win or not. When I arrived at the shooting range it was totally silence, no sound…when I shot the first bullet everyone cheered for me. I thought about Martin Fourcade in the last shooting, what that feeling was like in this situation. I felt like Martin Fourcade…I put my arm in the sky to share the victory in the last loop with the French fans.”

Yellow Bib “a bonus”

Fillon Maillet’s win took him put him into the Yellow Bib which he will wear in tomorrow’s mass start for the first time in his career. “The bonus is to take the Yellow Bib. I never expected this; to have the Yellow Bib right now. In the night I do not check the results…It is just a bonus. It is perfect to have the Yellow Bib tomorrow. The next goal is to have the Yellow Bib in the last race of the season.”

Belarusian Anton Smolski, with one penalty finished fourth, 32.8 seconds back. Fifth place went to Norway’s sprint winner Johannes Thingnes Boe, with three penalties, 43.3 seconds back. Boe’s teammate Sturla Holm Laegreid, with one penalty finished sixth, 52.9 seconds back.

Anxious crowd; Fillon Maillet, Jacquelin in lead pack

Little changed for the men’s pursuit that started two hours after the women, except that the crowd thrilled with Julia Simon’s second place was more anxious to see if another local hero would be the victor. Again, perfect shooting conditions prevailed. JT was aggressive from the start but missed two shots in the first prone stage, ceding the lead to the clean-shooting Latypov. Laegreid, Fillon Maillet, and Jacquelin matched, trailing 27 seconds back and Smolski next.

The chase group jockeyed for places coming into the second prone stage while closing some of the gap on Latypov. He missed his last shot, opening the door for Emilien Jacquelin and Fillon Maillet who both cleaned but left .4 and 4 seconds behind the Russian. Christiansen Laegreid, and JT were 4-6, but 14, 21, and 22 seconds back.

Fillon Maillet’s standing stage

Jacquelin took control as they headed to the first standing stage, putting a small 3.5 second gap between him, his Russian foe and Fillon Maillet. Yet into the range, Fillon Maillet moved onto lane one. He cleaned in five blazingly fast shots; Latypov added a penalty, and Jacquelin two. Christiansen went to 15-for-15, heading into the next loop, 25.9 seconds back, just one place behind Latypov.

More brilliant last standing stage

Fillon Maillet extended his lead to almost 30 seconds over the 2.5 km into the last standing stage. His last standing stage was even more brilliant than the first, shot with extreme confidence and speed, ensuring the win before any of his rivals fired a shot. Christiansen and Latypov went shot-for-shot with the Russian holding 1.9 second margin over Christiansen, setting up a battle for second place in the last loop.

Second-place battle

Christiansen and Latypov battled the whole loop, with both sprinting down the last 20 meters. The Norwegian lunged, but Latypov prevailed, retaining second place by a mere .1 seconds.

Waving the Flag

The French master of the four stage competitions enjoyed the last loop, skiing within himself, slowing at the 11.5 km split to high-five one of his coaches. Over the last small bridge, he grabbed a French flag, waving it with abandon as he finished to the delight of the crowd.

“Good battle with Vetle”

Latypov enjoyed his day despite not reaching his goal of clean shooting. “Today was a very interesting competition. We had great weather, a lot of people out on the track cheering. It was a great atmosphere and I am really happy and hope I can continue in this manner. My main aim today was to shoot clean but I could not manage that. But the battle on the last lap was interesting; you should never give up. It was a good battle with Vetle because he is a strong competitor and I am really glad that I managed to find the power in the last lap and get second.”

“Opportunity to shoot twenty”

Christiansen had a single goal today. “The pursuit is the toughest competition if you start some seconds back like I did today. I saw Emilien’s pace on the first loop and thought this is going to be a tough day if you want to fight for the victory and for sure it was. Quentin was unbelievably strong today and a well-deserved win…Twenty hits for me; I am very satisfied. I have been missing some shots in the first prone shot the last weeks so I decided that today that was my only goal. If I could hit this first prone shot and miss the rest, it was okay. AS soon as I hit that first shot in prone, I knew I had the chance to shoot quit well. I had a good feeling here at this range and I did not want to lose that opportunity to shoot twenty.” Photos: IBU/Manzoni, Thibaut

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