02/17/26 11:58:00
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02/17 11:57 CST France upsets Norway to win the Olympic men's biathlon relay
for the first time
France upsets Norway to win the Olympic men's biathlon relay for the first time
By MARTHA BELLISLE
Associated Press
ANTERSELVA, Italy (AP) --- France came from last place to win the Olympic men's
biathlon relay for the first time on Tuesday by less than 10 seconds from
stunned world and defending champion Norway.
Sweden hung on for the bronze, less than a minute ahead of Germany.
France's only previous men's relay medals were bronzes in 2002 and 2006.
"It is so big for me, for the whole team," Eric Perrot said. "The French
biathlon team has for so many years pushed really hard to win the relay gold
medal, and today we represent all those guys who pushed hard for it. I am so
proud to be a part of this team."
World Cup champion Perrot was France's final leg skier. He missed two shots in
his last standing shoot and was only seven seconds ahead of Norway's Vetle
Sjaastad Christiansen as they headed out to the ski tracks packed with fresh
snow.
After nearly 80 minutes, Perrot led his team of Fabien Claude, Emilien
Jacquelin and Quentin Fillon Maillet across the line first, 9.8 seconds ahead
of Christiansen.
Perrot and Fillon Maillet won Olympic gold in the mixed relay on Feb. 8 with
Lou Jeanmonnot and Julia Simon. Perrot also won silver in the individual race;
Fillon Maillet won gold in the sprint and Jacquelin won bronze in the pursuit.
Christiansen skied the fourth leg for the Norway team consisting of Martin
Uldal, Johan-Olav Botn and Sturla Holm Laegreid. Christiansen and Laegreid were
on the 2022 gold medal team in Beijing.
"Today our eyes were set on gold," Laegreid said. "To get silver is almost like
losing gold."
Sebastian Samuelsson anchored Sweden's team of Viktor Brandt, Jesper Nelin and
Martin Ponsiluoma. Samuelsson and Nelin were relay gold medalists in 2018 at
Pyeongchang. Ponsiluoma won gold in the pursuit race on Sunday.
The United States was fifth, 2 1/2 minutes off the pace.
The U.S. was 16th after Sean Doherty's first leg, Maxime Germain and Paul
Schommer slowly pulled the team forward and Campbell Wright in the last leg
brought them from 11th to fifth.
The U.S. has never won an Olympic medal in biathlon but Wright gave the team
hope after winning silver medals in the sprint and pursuit at last year's world
championships.
"As a men's team, we've struggled a bit at these Olympics," Wright said. "I've
managed to get away with a few good results but the other guys have caught the
worst end of bad luck. I'm really happy we can get fifth as a team here and
everyone can kind of get a win before the Games finish."
Things didn't look promising for France at the start.
The team was 20th after the second shoot when Claude missed one target despite
using three extra rounds and had to ski a penalty lap. He tagged off to
Jacquelin, who moved the team up to fifth with only one miss out of 10 shots
and then to first place by the time he tagged off to Fillon Maillet.
Sweden, Norway and France stayed together on the tracks and the range, taking
turns at the front. But when Norway and Sweden missed one on the prone shoot on
the last leg, Perrot shot clean and left in first place.
The women's relay is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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