French anchor Julia Simon’s fast 10-for-10 shooting and a powerful track performance brought France the Olympic Mixed Relay Gold medal this afternoon in 1:0415.5. The French foursome took control when third leg Lou Jeanmonnot cleaned her standing stage, skiing away from her rivals and tagging Simon with a 19-second lead. Simon, Jeanmonnot, Quentin Fillon Maillet and Eric Perrot used seven spares to claim the first biathlon Gold medal at these Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

Simon’s Olympic Gold today was the first of her career and only her second-ever Olympic medal after Silver in this same event 4 years ago. Fillon Maillet upped his Olympic medal collection to six, his third Gold medal. Jeanmonnot and Perrot claimed their first-ever Olympic medals.

“I felt very confident”

The French anchor admitted she confident when she took over for the anchor leg. “I felt a bit of pressure, of course. But I felt very confident also because I knew what I had to do, especially on the shooting range, It was a nice race for all the team.”

“It’s done, now you can enjoy”

Regarding her standing stage where the targets fell in quick succession. “When I came to the mat, I was a bit stressed. I just tried to stay focused. I had just one goal. When I went to ski the last loop, I thought, ‘It’s done, now you can enjoy.’ Seeing my teammates (at the finish) so happy was really crazy.”

Silver for Italy; Bronze to Germany

The home team Italy with Lisa Vittozzi, Dorothea Wierer, Lukas Hofer, and Tommaso Giacomel had five spares in their Silver medal performance, 25.8 seconds back. Today’s Silver was the third Olympic Mixed Relay medal for both Wierer and Hofer who won Bronze medals in 2014 and 2018. Germany anchored by Franziska Preuss after Vanessa Voigt, Philipp Nawrath, and Justus Strelow won Bronze, with a penalty and three spares, 1:05.3 back. Germany’s Bronze was the nation's first-ever in the Olympic Mixed Relay.

Defending Olympic Champions Norway missed a Mixed Relay medal for the first time, in fourth place, 1:37.2 back after anchor Maren Kirkeeide picked up two penalties in standing. Sweden, after two penalties by first leg Sebastian Samuelsson rebounded to finish fifth, with the two penalties and seven spares, 1:40.8 back. Finland, with seven spares finished sixth, 1:56.5 back.

Four-way Battle

The first competition at the Sudtirol Arena kicked off on a spectacular, brilliantly sunny winter afternoon with a huge crowd cheering on their heroes. As expected, Giacomel and Perrot led the field out of the first prone, both shooting clean with Strelow trailing a second back. Martin Uldal cleaned standing very fast, taking the lead with Perrot 4 seconds back. Giacomel trailed 10 seconds off the leader.

Uldal tagged Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen 3 seconds up on Fillon Maillet and 6 ahead of Hofer. Nawrath cleaned prone and standing in five shots. Christiansen and Hofer used spares in standing falling 12 and 19 seconds back while Fillon Maillet was fourth.

Jeanmonnot Puts France on Top

Christiansen pushed the second half of his last loop, tagging Knotten 5 seconds before Voigt and 21 on Wierer and Jeanmonnot. Voigt cleaned prone in 5 shots as did Wierer, with Jeanmonnot after a spare 6 seconds back. The French star took control with a fast standing stage, followed by Karoline Offigstad Knotten, Voigt, and Wierer 8 and 9 seconds back.

Simon took over 19 seconds ahead of her four rivals. She dominated both shooting stages, with Vittozzi matching, in control of second. Preuss one and Kirkeeide’s two penalties were the difference maker in the Bronze medal battle.

Photos: IBU/ Vianney Thibaut, Nordic Focus