By Philip O’Connor
ANTERSELVA, ITALY, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Emilien Jacquelin of France is bucking the trend of trying to keep a cool head in biathlon and letting his emotions run wild as he competes, thrilling the crowd at the Antholz-Anterselva Biathlon Arena and collecting medals along the way.
In Tuesday’s relay Jacquelin surged through a superb second leg to put France back into contention after a bad start, and then had to watch a nail-biting finish as first Quentin Fillon Maillet and then anchorman Eric Perrot completed the job to deliver a first Olympic relay gold for France.
“Man, it was the first time I was in this state of mind (watching the others) – it was as if I was still competing. In a way (it was) as if I was a bit drunk, I had to express everything I had, it’s a lot of emotions,” he told Reuters, smiling and shaking his head incredulously.
Penned into the athletes’ enclosure behind the shooting range to observe the rest of the race, he wildly celebrated every target that his teammates felled, agonised over their misses, and roared encouragement as they swished past on their skis, but it was his second-leg rescue effort that laid the foundations for their success.
A disaster on the second shoot had lead-off man Fabien Claude depart the range dead last in the 20-team field, and though he battled his way back up to 13th before handing over to Jacquelin, there was still plenty of work left to do.
“Even if, from the start, it is not so great, you have to stay humble, but give your best, then everything is possible,” the 30-year-old explained. “And when I came on the first shooting, I saw that the guys maybe didn’t shoot so fast, and it was my chance.”
Wearing an earring that used to belong to his now-deceased sporting hero, swashbuckling Italian cyclist Marco Pantani, Jacquelin injected the race with his characteristic passion and showmanship, rattling off a perfect five shots and blazing his way to the front of the pack.
“It was perfect, because I came back suddenly and then I felt good on the skis, so I didn’t want it to wait for the Norwegian (Johan-Olav Botn), because we knew they were our biggest rivals today, so that’s why I dared on the track,” he said.
He handed over a lead that Fillon Maillet and Perrot both briefly relinquished, but in the end the flamboyant French carried the day to add an Olympic relay gold to Jacquelin’s bronze in the pursuit race and the two relay silvers he won in Beijing.
Tuesday’s winning run will ensure that Jacquelin will enter Friday’s mass start – the final men’s biathlon race of the Games – in the same frame of mind as he did when he set off on his epic relay leg wearing his heart on his sleeve.
“It was perfect. It’s biathlon,” he said, grinning from ear to ear.
(Reporting by Philip O’ConnorEditing by Christian Radnedge)
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