The French men's biathlon relay won its first Olympic title on Tuesday, allowing France to win a 16th medal at the Milan Cortina Olympic Games and beat its Winter Olympics record previously established in 2014 and 2018.
Published on: 02/17/2026 - 3:50 p.m. Modified on: 02/18/2026 - 00:17
Record broken! Biathletes Fabien Claude, Émilien Jacquelin, Quentin Fillon Maillet and Éric Perrot, in gold in the men's relay, brought a 16th medal to the French delegation on Tuesday February 17, which improves the performance of the 2014 Winter Olympics, reissued in 2018.
Incidentally, the men's relay, crowned Olympic champion for the first time, allowed biathlon to reach the podium for the ninth time (another record). 5 days before the end of the Olympic Games, France, with its 16 medals, occupies 7th place in the nation rankings.
Read Olympic Games 2026: how French biathlon became so strong and so popular
. Biathlon: the missing gold
Titled in all individual races several times at the Olympic Games since 2006, the French biathletes had until now always failed to win gold in the men's relay. This gap has been filled: the relay (4 x 7.5 km) won ahead of Norway and Sweden.
Incidentally, Fillon Maillet, already titled in the mixed relay and in the sprint, pockets his third gold medal since the start of the Games, in addition to the two he won in Beijing in 2022. He thus becomes the French athlete with the most medals at the Winter Games (8 medals; 5 gold and 3 silver).
This medal recognizes the collective success of French biathlon which has often had a leader (Raphaël Poirée at the end of the 1990s and in the 2000s, Martin Fourcade in the 2010s, Quentin Fillon Maillet in 2022) but rarely the depth to compete with the Germans, the Norwegians or the Russians for collective Olympic gold.
This time, the Blues, weighed down by an average start from Fabien Claude with poor shooting, were able to count on an insolent second stint from Emilien Jacquelin, who closed a gap of 50 seconds to get back into the race, before the conclusion of Fillon Maillet and Perrot.
. Figure skating: advantage for the Japanese
Ami Nakai ahead of Kaori Sakamoto... The Japanese occupy the first two places in the women's figure skating competition at the end of the short program, ahead of the American Alysa Liu.
17-year-old high school student, Ami Nakai (78.71 pts) caused a sensation with a triple Axel and a playful program performed with mischief on the soundtrack of the film “La Strada” by Nino Rota. The gap is, however, small with her compatriot Kaori Sakamoto (77.23), bronze medalist four years ago, and three times world champion (2022, 2023, 2024) but also Alysa Liu (76.59), holder of the world crown.
The Russian Adeliia Petrosian, long deprived of international competitions and who competes under a neutral banner, is in 5th place (72.89), just behind another Japanese, Mone Chiba (74).
The big loser of the evening was the American Amber Glenn, who suffered a big technical error and a fall, to finish in 12th place, with a surely crippling delay (67.39).
Frenchwoman Lorine Shild, who finished 24th and last in the field (55.63), won her ticket for Thursday's freestyle.
. Hockey: checkmate
One defeat too many... For their first Olympic tournament since 2002, the French hockey players will not advance to the quarter-finals. They were largely beaten (5-1) in the play-off against Germany.
Already defeated successively by Switzerland (4-0), the Czech Republic (6-3) then the Canadian favorites (10-2), the Blues, drafted after the suspension of Russia, therefore left Milan without the slightest victory.
The women also left the tournament prematurely, after three defeats.
With AFP
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