ANTERSELVA, Italy, Feb 13 (Reuters) - A heroic final lap by Emilien Jacquelin of France looked to have secured him a bronze medal in Friday's men's sprint at the Milano Cortina Games but an even greater effort from Norway's Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen saw the 30-year-old Frenchman agonisingly edged into fourth place, two-tenths of a second off the podium.
Despite just missing out on a third Olympic medal to go with the two silvers he won in Beijing four years ago, Jacquelin said he had no complaints as compatriot Quentin Fillon Maillet took the gold, Sjaastad Christiansen the silver and fellow NorwegianSturla Holm Laegreid the bronze in a nail-biting race.
"I really wanted to have no regrets, I wanted to attack and be who I am, that's all," he told Reuters. "Maybe I started too fast the first two laps but I have no regrets."
Behind Jacquelin, the medal ceremony for Friday's race had just taken place, but his thoughts had already turned to the 12.5km race on Sunday, a distance in which he was crowned world champion in 2020 in the Antholz-Anterselva Biathlon Arena, where the Winter Games events are taking place.
"I can just be focused on the pursuit. It could be something really crazy, to do what I achieved six years ago, and I will start on this pursuit in quite in the same way, so let's see," he said.
"But yeah, in a way I gave everything, so I have don't have so many regrets but for sure tonight I will think about it a lot."
Friday's disappointment would be used as fuel for Sunday's pursuit race, he added.
"I think there are three really happy guys tonight and I'm the first one with the most anger for Sunday, so I hope I will do it (the race) in a good way."
(Reporting by Philip O'Connor; editing by Clare Fallon)
