The 2025/2026 season delivered defining moments. Quentin Fillon Maillet led the headlines with four Olympic medals, including three gold, moving him into second place in the all-time Winter Olympic biathlon rankings among men. Eric Perrot and Lou Jeanmonnot joined France’s Total Score legacy, while Lisa Vittozzi and Julia Simon entered an exclusive club of triple-crown champions. Johan Olav Botn made rare history of his own, and the Oeberg sisters completed their World Cup discipline win collection in style.

1. Fillon Maillet rewrites Olympic history in Antholz 2026

Quentin Fillon Maillet won four medals at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, three of them gold. He is now the second most successful man in Winter Olympic biathlon history with nine medals, five of them gold — behind only Ole Einar Bjoerndalen. We analysed how Fillon Maillet compares to Bjoerndalen, Martin Fourcade, Johannes Thingnes Boe and Emil Hegle Svendsen, all of whom made Olympic history and have won at least two individual medals.

OLE EINAR BJOERNDALEN

Bjoerndalen has 14 Olympic medals to Fillon Maillet’s nine, and eight are gold to Fillon Maillet’s five. The Norwegian won five individual gold medals and was the fastest in the Sprint three times. They both have gold medals in the Individual, Sprint, Pursuit, Mixed Relay and Relay, as well as a bronze medal in the Mass Start.

JT BOE

Johannes Thingnes Boe’s Olympic medal count equals Fillon Maillet’s — nine. He has won gold in the Individual, Sprint, Mass Start, Mixed Relay and Relay, but has no medal in the Pursuit. He also has two silver medals to Fillon Maillet’s three.

MARTIN FOURCADE

Martin Fourcade won seven Olympic medals, six of them gold, including five individual golds - in the Individual, Pursuit (two), Mass Start (two). However, he did not win a medal in the Sprint and Relay — whereas Fillon Maillet joined forces with Fabien Claude, Emilien Jacquelin and Eric Perrot to win Relay gold for France in Antholz 2026.

EMIL HEGLE SVENDSEN

Svendsen won nine Olympic medals, including gold in the Individual, Mass Start, Mixed Relay and Relay. He has no medal in the Pursuit.

2. Total score for Lou Jeanmonnot and Eric Perrot

Following in the footsteps of Patrice Bailly-Salins, Raphaël Poirée, Martin Fourcade, and Quentin Fillon Maillet, Eric Perrot became the fifth Frenchman to win the Total Score trophy. Lou Jeanmonnot joined the ranks of Anne Briand, Emmanuelle Claret, Sandrine Bailly, and Julia Simon.

3. Diamond career for Lisa Vittozzi and Julia Simon

After winning the Total Score title in 2023/2024 — following a tough confidence slump in the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 seasons — Lisa Vittozzi has kept stacking up major titles. Her Olympic Pursuit win at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 moved her into a very exclusive club: women who have won at least one individual gold at the Olympics, the IBU World Championships, and the IBU World Cup Total Score.

Just a few days earlier, Julia Simon had already joined that same elite group with her Individual gold in Antholz, adding it to her 2022/2023 Total Score title and four World Championships individual golds.

4. The first and the last for Johan-Olav Botn

By winning the Individual in Oestersund and the Mass Start in Oslo-Holmenkollen, Johan Olav Botn became only the third man to win both the first and last race of a World Cup season. Only Martin Fourcade (2012/2013, 2013/2014, 2016/2017) and Emil Hegle Svendsen (2010/2011) had previously achieved this feat — and now Botn joins that exclusive club.

5 The Oeberg sisters complete their world cup discipline win collection

After a strong closing trimester to the 2025/2026 season, the Oeberg sisters also added a missing win to their discipline collection. Elvira Oeberg completed her set with a victory in the Individual in Kontiolahti, while Hanna Oeberg took the Pursuit in Oslo-Holmenkollen. They also increased their shared podium count to seven.