The snow that was constantly falling made the French fairy tale in biathlon seem even more fairy tale... For the first time in history, the country reached the Olympic gold medal in the relay. And, ahead of its biggest rival Norway and third-placed Sweden.
An unforgettable day in Anterselva or in the German Rasen-Antholz (both names are in use) was made more beautiful by legendary football coach Jurgen Klopp, who rang the bell to officially mark the last lap of the race.
This was further enhanced by the competitive relay team member Canten Fillon Maier, who became the most decorated Frenchman in the history of the Winter Olympics - with a total of eight medals, five of which were gold.
After three bronzes and then silver from the previous Games in Beijing, French biathlon finally achieved gold - history was made in Milan and Cortina by Fabien Claude, Emilien Jacquelin and Eric Perrot, alongside Fillon Maier.
"This is the moment we've been waiting for for so long. When we started dreaming about the gold medal I was still an athlete. Now we've done it, a really great moment, especially considering how the race went," said the legendary Simon Fourcade, now the French coach.
And the race was going so well that after the first stage of Claude, it seemed that France had no chance of winning any medals. However, Jacqueline made no mistake and brought his team back into the game, only for Pero to repel a charge from Vetle Sjestad Kristiansen in a brilliant finish, and the celebrations in South Tyrol could begin.
Fillon Mayer, Claude and Jacqueline were part of the relay team four years ago when they looked back at Kristiansen and his friends. This time the story was different.
How hard the defeat was for the Norwegians, who have been Olympic champions three times in history, is perhaps best illustrated by the words of Sturla Holm Legreid.
"Winning silver is almost like losing gold. Here we were only interested in the brightest medal, everything was geared towards that," Legreid said.
Along with Kristiansen, Martin Uldal and Johan Ulav Botn won the silver medal (or lost the gold). The Swedish relay team, which reached the bronze, was led by Viktor Brandt, Jesper Nelin, Martin Ponsiluoma and Sebastian Samuelson.
Bonus video:
