Biathlon-Simon shows nerves of steel as France sweep to mixed relay gold
Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics - Biathlon - Mixed Relay 4 x 6km (M+W) - Anterselva Biathlon Arena, South Tyrol, Italy - February 08, 2026. Julia Simon of France in action during the Biathlon Mixed Relay 4 x 6km (M+W) . REUTERS/Matthew Childs
ANTERSELVA, Italy, Feb 8 : Julia Simon hit all 10 of her shots as she stormed through the final leg to secure gold for favourites France in a thrilling biathlon mixed relay on Sunday, setting the scene for the 10 medal races to come at the Milano Cortina Games.
Lisa Vittozzi anchored host nation Italy to the silver medal and Germany picked up the bronze in a race that ebbed and flowed as fortunes changed on the shooting range and around the challenging 2 km track.
Each individual on the teams, which were made up of two men for the first two legs, followed by two women, skied three laps of the track, stopping twice to fire at five targets and incurring costly penalties for any misses.
The French finished in a time of one hour 4:15.5, with Italy 25.8 seconds further back and Germany over a minute behind the winner, but the day belonged to Simon as she shut the door on the rest of the field.
Simon’s French team, consisting of Lou Jeanmonnot, Eric Perrot and Quentin Fillon Maillet, had their fair share of misses on the shooting range, but she displayed nerves of steel on the anchor leg, rattling off a flawless 10 shots on her two visits to the range to save the day.
SIMON HAILS 'GREAT TEAM EFFORT'
"I did a great relay, but it was a great team effort. I really enjoyed myself. I'm very, very happy with how I performed in this race," an elated Simon told French TV.
"It's magical. I don't think I realise it yet, these are such huge events," teammate Perrot said after securing gold in his maiden Olympic race.
With the crowd primarily made up of fanatical fans from Italy, Germany and France, they all got what they came for as Vittozzi, who is renowned for being quick on the trigger, held her nerve to emerge into the last lap in second place.
Italy's Tommaso Giacomel hailed the silver medal as a good start in front of the biathlon-mad Italian fans at the Antholz-Anterselva Biathlon Arena, and he sent a warning to the rest of the field ahead of the upcoming races.
"It's good, but it's the first one. I want more," he told reporters bluntly.
Germany shot brilliantly until the final visit to the range where the vastly experienced Franziska Preuss had some uncharacteristic misses, but she recovered to hold off a late Norwegian challenge to take the bronze.
"I think it's sometimes good to be a rookie when you don't know what can happen," Preuss told Reuters after digging deep to secure third place. "You have to focus on the moment, and this is the biggest challenge sometimes."
DISAPPOINTMENT FOR NORWAY AND SWEDEN
While the drama happened on the shooting range, the race was won out on the course as the French four made the most of their fast skis to deliver a team performance of enormous power, regularly eclipsing the best lap times of their rivals.
There was disappointment for Norway, who made the running early on but fell away towards the end, and Sweden's challenge fell apart at the first shoot as lead-off man Sebastian Samuelsson struggled to hit the target, digging his team into a hole they could not get out of.
There was joy for local Italian hero Dorothea Wierer, who has taken a bronze medal at each of the last three Olympics, and on Sunday she finally went one better, securing a silver medal that brought roars of approval from the grandstand.
