Thomas Siniecki, Media365: published on Monday, 30 March 2026 at 12:31
Take a deep breath, and even longer if possible, that’s the program for Quentin Fillon Maillet who has endured an extremely intense season.
Do you think the biathlon season is over since a little over a week and the end of the World Cup? Not at all… Quentin Fillon Maillet and his friends continued this weekend with the French Championships, and “QFM” will even make a point of being present at the Customs Tournament at the end of the week. So, he can be forgiven for being tired, at least a little, and expressing “a lot of fatigue”.
“I’m so tired that I feel sick”
That’s why he still withdrew from the mass start on Saturday at the national championships. “There are a lot of demands after the season. Four years ago, after Pyeongchang, I fell into a deep fatigue, so I’m not making the same mistake this year. I anticipate. It’s not a lack of desire to race or participate in these French championships, but choices had to be made. If I had a race to run on the weekend, it was the relay, to give young people the chance to have a good race. The format didn’t exist back then, but I would have been very proud to run with Vincent Defrasne, another great athlete.”
Fillon Maillet kept his word by participating in the relay on Sunday, but it’s high time for it to stop if he wants to still focus on what’s ahead: “This fatigue… I’m so tired that I feel sick. I don’t want to push myself too far into this fatigue, manage it for the next four years.” So, it’s confirmed: the five-time Olympic champion and nine-time medalist (national record, all disciplines combined, summer and winter) is indeed thinking about the 2030 Games in France. His child will then be three and a half years old, as he is about to become a father in July, and he doesn’t hide that managing this new and happy aspect may make the difference in whether he continues his career or not.
