Olympedia – 2 × 6 kilometres and 2 × 7.5 kilometres Relay, Mixed

For the first time, the mixed relay was raced over 4 x 6 km legs. Previously it had been 2 x 6 km for the women and 2 x 7.5 km for the men. Gusty winds made the first event in biathlon at the 2022 Winter Games a turbulent affair. Nevertheless, the favourites eventually collected their medals with Norway winning gold ahead of France and the ROC in third.

The first team that fell victim to the conditions was Germany with rookie Vanessa Voigt. Although known as an excellent shooter, she started with two penalty rounds. Norway, with Marte Olsbu Røiseland, held the lead at the first exchange. Italy’s Dorothea Wierer was the best markswoman of the top teams on the second leg, finishing second in the second exchange behind France’s Julia Simon. This time, Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff went three penalty rounds and dropped back to fifth place.

The weather conditions improved when the men took over. Émilien Jacquelin had a brilliant start with a clean first round of shooting. At the standing shooting, however, it was his turn to suffer two extra penalty rounds. Aleksandr Loginov’s third leg brought the ROC from seventh to first at the last exchange, followed by Sweden, with France third. The United States were a surprise fourth, with Norway in fifth, but still only 21.9 seconds behind the leaders.

Eventually the skiing speed of Johannes Thingnes Bø and Quentin Fillon Maillet would decide the race. They closed in on ROC’s Eduard Latypov. A three-way battle ensued on the final lap, in which the Norwegians had the upper hand, with only 1.5 seconds separating the three top teams.

For Norway this was their third consecutive medal in the mixed relay, in what was the third edition of this event, having won gold in 2014, and silver in 2018. Tiril Eckhoff became the first biathlete to win three medals in the mixed relay, as she had been on each of those three teams.