Although Quentin Fillon Maillet did not defend his Olympic 20 km Individual Gold medal two days ago, he bounced back this afternoon, shooting clean to win the Milan/Cortina Men’s 10 km Sprint in 22:53.1. Fillon Maillet took the lead just before the prone stage, at 2.9 km, then blazed through both shooting bouts almost unchallenged for the fourth Olympic Gold medal of his career.
In an exciting battle for the other two medals, Norway’s Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen shot clean, finishing 13.7 seconds back for the Silver medal, his second career individual Olympic medal after 2022 Mass Start Bronze. Christiansen was just seconds ahead of teammate Sturla Holm Laegreid throughout the competition with the clean-shooting Laegreid winning the Bronze medal, 15.9 seconds back.
Fillon Maillet’s teammate Emilien Jacquelin shot clean, finishing a close fourth, .2 second slower than Laegreid. Sweden’s Sebastian Samuelsson shot clean, finishing fifth, 25 seconds back; the same place as in the 2022 Olympic Sprint. Norway’s Johannes Dale-Skjevdal, with two penalties, finished sixth, 43 seconds back.
Photos: IBU/Vianney Thibaut, Ola Wizor, Nordic Focus