Slovakia Relay: Latest Results & Analysis

ANTERSELVA – The French quartet of biathletes Eric Perrot, Quentin Fillon Maillet, Lou Jeanmonnotová and Julia Simonová won gold medals at the 2026 Olympic Games in the 4×6 km mixed relay.

The French triumphed in Anterselva, Italy, with a lead of 25.8 seconds over home Italy, bronze was won by Germany (+1:05.3 min). The Slovak foursome Jakub Borguľa, Šimon Adamov, Paulína Bátovská Fialková and Anastasia Kuzminová finished with a deficit of 4:51 min. in the final 19th position.

While in previous editions the start was always traditionally with sprints, which are directly followed by other individual races, the International Biathlon Union (IBU) came four years ago with a change in the program, and it also applies to the games in the north of Italy, where the youngest discipline – the mix – opened the biathlon competition.

The Norwegians defended the gold in Anterselva, but they came in a completely different composition compared to the one in which they presented themselves in Zhangjiajie four years ago. The French – the silver medalists from Beijing – were among the favorites. The home Italians, who had proven names in their quartet including Tomasso Giacomelo with the form of life, had the highest ambitions.

However, the second overall World Cup man did not have the best calling card in his section. After shooting 100% lying down, he sent two shots wide, but dropped both targets after reloading. The Slovaks were started on the first section by Jakub Borguľa, who was 100% on the layup, with one charge on the stand and handed over to Šimon Adam in the last 21st place.

The Swede Sebastian Samuelsson showed a very bad performance on the track, who completed two penalty circuits and put his teammates in a difficult position, which later turned out to be irreversible. On the contrary, the Norwegian Vetle Sjästad Christiansen took over the first rung from Martin Uldal ahead of the second Frenchmen, who were followed by Fillon Maillet on the second leg.

Giacomel handed the third with a slight deficit to Lukas Hofer. Phillipp Nawrath put Germany in the lead after two flawless shots, which he handed over to Vanessa Voigt as the second, while the Norwegian Karoline Offigstadová Knottenová was the first to take over the baton at the start of the women’s section. The Slovak team was still at the bottom of the ranking with a deficit of more than three minutes after the segment of Šimon Adamov and his shooting with three reloads.

Bátovská Fialková moved Slovakia higher

The Germans benefited from flawless shooting and had no reloads even after Voigt’s two items. The flawless Frenchwoman Jeanmonnotová and Norwegian Knottenová also managed their position. The excellent runner Paulína Bátovská Fialková moved Slovakia to 17th place, who had the second best running time in her section. However, the Slovaks had no chance for a better result.

“It wasn’t easy or very motivating. However, I knew I could make a few minutes ahead, so I tried. It’s a shame about charging, especially on the stand, I could have overtaken two more rivals there. It really wasn’t a good race in terms of team performance.” she said in an interview for STVR Šport.

France was consistently first after Simonová mastered the layup quickly and had everything ideally started to win the gold for her team. The fight for medals was still brewing between the three Lisa Vittozziová (Italy), Franziska Preussová (Germany) and Maren Kirkeeideová (Norway). Simonová secured the gold in the last shooting with a flawless entry, Vittozzi took the silver for the home Italians.

The fight for bronze was better handled by Preussová, who completed one penalty lap, but Kirkeeideová circled one more lap and the gold defenders were left without a valuable metal in Anterselva. The French won their first gold at the Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. Kuzminová led the fourth stage for the Slovak team, for whom it was the start of the fourth Olympics. In the end, she still tried to overtake her Belgian opponent, but her strength was no longer enough and she led Slovakia to the finish line without having to go through a penalty round and with 11 recharging.

• Author: © List/
• VIDEO: Facebook/Sport STVR, YouTube/TNT Sports
• Source: TASR