The Frenchman noticed his mistake in time enough.
Quentin Fillon Maillet celebrated the World Cup medal too early. PDO
Quentin Fillon Maillet was to make the mistake of his life at the end of the mixed relay race of the Biathlon World Championships.
The Frenchman, who was leading his team to the bronze medals, began fanning and greeting the crowd so enthusiastically at the curve of the final straight that he inadvertently took the wrong track.
– My heart was in my throat. French teammates can’t run into the end zone until he’s crossed the finish line, so we stood there chanting “no, no, no, no,” Norway’s gold team member Ingrid Tandrevold explains to Dagbladet.
The shouts may have helped that Fillon Maillet noticed his taunting in time, packed into the right lane and not Austria’s Simon Eder caught him again.
– I’m glad it went well. It had been a terrible way to lose a medal, Tandrevold thinks.
The women’s 7.5 kilometer sprint race is on the Oberhof slopes today.