Saturday February 19 – Day 13
The French on the menu
French alpine skiing has the opportunity to retire with panache from the 2022 Olympics on the most hype of the discipline, the parallel slalom. Alexis Pinturault, physically diminished and mentally affected by complicated Games, will be accompanied by Tessa Worley, Mathieu Faivre, Coralie Frasse Sombet, Clara Direz and Thibaut Favrot. It will take at least that to defeat the Swedish favorites, led by Sara Hector.
In the 2-man bobsleigh, Margot Boch and Carla Sénéchal have two runs to save the day after a delicate end to the day on Friday. They are currently 17th (out of 20) with two runs remaining. There won’t be a medal, but it’s worth going up a bit to save the honor.
In cross-country skiing, Maurice Manificat will probably say goodbye to the Olympic Games on the 50km, a race where we will also find Parisse, Backscheider and Lapierre on the French side.
The star of the night
Since we’re on cross-country skiing, let’s stay there. Johannes Klaebo will be expected at the turn of the 50km. On the one hand, because he has the opportunity to go for a third gold medal, on the other hand, because he has revenge to take on this race format, which he thought he had tamed at the Worlds in ‘Oberstdorf in 2021. First on the finish line, he was finally disqualified for hooking Bolshunov, who had lost his stick in history and any chance of victory with it. “I take it as something that made me grow,” Klaebo eventually admitted. Enough to seek Olympic gold over 50km?
The reform we are waiting for
A measure to raise the minimum age to compete as seniors in figure skating will be proposed by the International Federation at its congress in June, the ISU told AFP on Friday on the sidelines of the Valieva affair and the Olympics. -2022.
“The ISU is able to confirm that the ISU Council has decided to place (on the agenda of the Congress) a proposal to raise the age limit to 17 years to compete in all disciplines of figure skating, ”writes the Federation.
Even if it is not directly linked to the Kamila Valieva affair, plunged into turmoil in the middle of the Beijing Games, at 15, after a positive test for a prohibited substance and finally fourth in the individual event on Thursday evening, the measure necessarily has a particular resonance in this context. “The detailed proposal will be published on April 30. To be adopted, a majority of two-thirds of the members of the ISU is required”, specifies the ISU.