France wins its first Olympic gold in men's biathlon relay, upsetting Norway

ANTERSELVA, Italy — France went from last place on the first leg to being first on the last lap to secure the country's first Olympic gold medal in men’s biathlon relay on Tuesday at the Milan Cortina Winter Games, upsetting defending champion Norway, while Sweden was able to hang on for the bronze.

World Cup champion Eric Perrot, skiing the final leg for France, missed two shots in his last standing shooting bout and was only seven seconds ahead of Norway's Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen as they headed out to ski tracks packed with fresh snow.

Perrot stayed ahead of Christiansen and took his team of Fabien Claude, Emilien Jacquelin and Quentin Fillon Maillet across the line first, for a total time of one hour, 19 minutes and 55.2 seconds. Christiansen finished 9.8 seconds back for silver and Sebastian Samuelsson was 57.5 seconds behind France for the bronze.

Perrot said it was an emotional achievement.

“It is so big for me, for the whole team,” he 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.”

Perrot and Fillon Maillet won Olympic gold in the mixed-relay — the first biathlon event of the 2026 Winter Games — when partnered 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 had skied the fourth leg for the Norway team consisting of Martin Uldal, Johan-Olav Botn and Sturla Holm Laegreid. Samuelsson was the anchor for Sweden's team of Viktor Brandt, Jesper Nelin and Martin Ponsiluoma.

Ponsiluoma won gold in pursuit race on Sunday, and that gave the team a boost going into the relay, Samuelsson said.

Germany came in fourth, 1:48.3 back while the United States secured fifth place, 2:27.4 behind the leaders.

The U.S. was in 16th place with first-leg skier Sean Doherty, but 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. Wright has been favored to secure a medal for the team, after winning silver medals in the sprint and pursuit at last year’s World Championships, but no luck so far.

“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 in a disappointing 20th place after the second shooting when Fabien Claude missed one target despite using three extra rounds and had to ski a penalty lap. He tagged off to Emilien Jacquelin, who moved the team up to fifth position with only one miss out of 10 shots and then to first place by the time he tagged off to Quentin 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 shooting on the last leg, Perrot cleaned and left in first place. He maintained that position until the end.

Norway’s Laegreid said it was a disappointing result. They had finished ahead of France at the Beijing Winter Games when the team included Tarjei Bo and Johannes Thingnes Bo — who both retired last year.

“Today our eyes were set on gold,” he said. “To get silver is almost like losing gold.”

The women's relay is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.