The French mixed biathlon relay composed of Éric Perrot, Quentin Fillon Maillet, Lou Jeanmonnot and Julia Simon became Olympic champion on Sunday at the high altitude site of Anterselva, meeting the immense expectations placed in the discipline.
Published on: 02/08/2026 - 3:10 p.m.
The French mixed biathlon relay offered, Sunday February 8, the first gold medal for the French delegation at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games.
Éric Perrot, Quentin Fillon Maillet, Lou Jeanmonnot and Julia Simon beat Italy (+25"8) and Germany (+1'05"3) to win the second French medal of these Games after Mathis Desloges' silver in skiathlon.
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The biathlon, which hopes to make a raid in the north of Italy, is launching its fortnight in the best possible way.
Read alsoOJ 2026: how French biathlon became so strong and so popular
Julia Simon, the last torchbearer, crossed the finish line with a margin over Italy and Lisa Vittozzi, Germany with Franziska Preuss completing the podium of the first biathlon event on the program for the 2026 Olympics, at an altitude of 1,600 meters, embedded in the sumptuous setting of the Dolomites.
The French are double world champions in the mixed relay, in slightly different compositions (Justine Braisaz-Bouchet in place of Lou Jeanmonnot in 2024 in Nove Mesto, Émilien Jacquelin in place of Quentin Fillon Maillet in 2025 in Lenzerheide), a sign of the density of the two French men's and women's teams.
These two world titles were the beginnings of historic harvests with 13 medals including six gold over the two editions (with the single mixed relay title which is not on the Olympic program).
Julia Simon's perfect, supersonic shot
The anticipated match between France, Italy, Norway and Germany kept all its promises, with the Germans and Norwegians taking the lead after the two men's torchbearers. Sweden, which was expected in the fight, exploded from the first lying shot from Sebastian Samuelsson.
Quentin Fillon Maillet, with three picks on the prone shot and two on the standing, passed the baton to Lou Jeanmonnot about twenty seconds from the lead. Then the World Cup leader made the difference on skis and thanks to her mastery on the shooting range. She first landed on her head after the prone shot, then opened up a gap of around twenty seconds on her pursuers, who were just as efficient in shooting.
Julia Simon managed to maintain this twenty seconds throughout her 6 kilometers of effort, with a perfect and supersonic shot (19 seconds on the lying shot, 18 seconds on the standing shot).
This is the third Olympic title in the career of Quentin Fillon Maillet, the man of the Beijing Games with five medals including two gold (individual and pursuit).
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For Julia Simon, Lou Jeanmonnot and Éric Perrot, it is the first gold medal.
With AFP and Reuters
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