Gold medalists Emily Harrop of France and Thibault Anselmet of France celebrate on the podium in Bormio, Italy, on February 21, 2026.
Emily Harrop and Thibault Anselmet combined to win gold for France in the mixed relay event of Olympic ski mountaineering in Bormio on Saturday, February 21. Harrop and Anselmet clocked a winning time of 26 minutes and 57.44 seconds in the relay, consisting of two ascents plus a section on foot with skis attached to the backpack for each ascent and two descents.
The Swiss duo of Marianne Fatton and Jon Kistler claimed silver, 11.86 seconds behind, with Spain’s Ana Alonso Rodriguez and Oriol Cardona Coll rounding out the podium.
Harrop, born in the French Alps to English parents, was in dominant form in her opening leg. A silver medallist in the individual sprint, Harrop built up a healthy lead over Switzerland’s Fatton and Spain’s Alonso Rodriguez, the sprint gold and bronze medallists respectively. Anselmet maintained that lead over Kistler and men’s sprint champion Carona Coll.
Ski mountaineering is making its Olympic debut at the Milan-Cortina Games and while the “skimo” sprints offered a condensed version of the sport, the mixed relay proved to be a true lung-busting race.
Harrop’s second tour around the course on the Stelvio piste saw her extend the lead over her female rivals to more than 27 seconds. There was drama as Alonso Rodriguez missed one of the transitions, overskiing the line, which resulted in a 3-second time penalty.
Kistler pushed Anselmet, cutting the Frenchman’s advantage to 8 seconds at one stage. Anselmet pushed on, his smooth metronomic movements belying the intense physical effort required on the unrelenting course. And there was joy in his face as he skied down the final descent, poles clutched in one hand, his other fist raised in triumph as he came through the line.
