Anterselva (Italy) (AFP) – By equaling the record for medals at the Winter Games (15), the Blues made a "very positive" start in Milan Cortina but there still remain "master assets" to "continue to seek medals", said Sunday to AFP Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, president of the National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF).

Published on: 02/15/2026 - 7:41 p.m.

“We are on the roadmap, even a little higher,” agrees Yann Cucherat, high performance manager at the National Sports Agency (ANS), while France is aiming for the Top 5.

With 15 medals, France has already equaled the record established in 2014 and repeated in 2018 and occupied 6th place in the nation rankings on Sunday evening.

QUESTION: Did you hope to collect these 15 medals so quickly?

Amélie Oudéa-Castéra: "We are well in line with the objective, it is really very positive and wonderful after ten days of competition to have already equaled our historic record of 15 medals. On the gold performance (4), we have already done what we had done during the entire Games in Sotchi, in Salt Lake City and in Grenoble. Every day is important: we need to continue to win gold medals to be at the meeting of our Top 5 ambition, but silver and bronze are also very important to allow us to make the difference, every medal counts."

Yann Cucherat: "We are on the roadmap, and even a little higher. There were, quote, some small disappointments, places where we could have gone for medals but others came to compensate, with some nice surprises. We are approaching this second week with humility but with a lot of ambition."

Q: Does the high number of fourth places demonstrate a good level of the French?

Y.C: "We can clearly see to what extent the 2/10th (of a second) in the biathlon of Emilien Jacquelin or the 3/100th of Nils Allègre in super-G, it doesn't matter much in the end. We still have a panel of fourth and fifth places which shows the density of this French team. We are also with a young delegation, which will certainly be there for the 2030 Olympics (in the Alps French, Editor's note). We are in the process of consolidating all of this to put into perspective very strong ambitions for 2030. All these places which are mentioned are great joys for us, great sources of motivation for the future."

A.O-C: “These are promises, we really see a 2030 generation in the process of revealing itself, emerging. There is very good team cohesion in Italy, a lot of fluidity and this is where we also see the work we have done to prepare together for the Paris Games, we are capitalizing on everything we have been able to create in terms of trust and habits of working together.”

Q: What would a Top 5 represent in the final nations table?

Y.C.: "Generally, France has 14, 15 medals in the Winter Games, and there, halfway through, this is already the volume of medals we have won. We are in Milan, there is no 'home' advantage and yet we are there, it shows that the strategy launched by the players in French sport is bearing fruit."

A.O-C.: "We were in the Top 3 during the Grenoble Games in 1968, but we had infinitely fewer athletes and disciplines. The Top 5 would really be a considerable leap in performance. We are approaching this second week with optimism because we still have key assets in our game: firstly the biathlon where there are four events remaining, we also have ski mountaineering where we know we have very great potential, and the ski-cross. And then there are still a few athletes who can achieve great results, such as Clément Noël in the slalom (Monday), or Paco Rassat.

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