Norway wins biathlon mixed relay at Beijing 2022 Olympics

Johannes Thingnes Boe of Team Norway celebrates after winning the Biathlon Mixed Relay 4x6km during Mixed Biathlon 4x6km relay at National Biathlon Centre on February 05, 2022 in Zhangjiakou, China. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Norway returned to their rightful place at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games Saturday night. The men’s side of the race made a difference for the Norwegians, who jumped late to overtake the French for gold and the ROC winning bronze in the biathlon mixed relay. It was a race that was shaken up at every shoot at the Zhangjiakou National Biathlon Centre.  

With Martin Fourcade retired, France came into action with less experience and firepower. They still had a good chance at defending their gold medal from 2018 but back in the hunt was the Scandinavian countries, who still had their best in the lineup. The Chinese had the best chance of doing well, gaining the experience of Darya Domracheva and Ole Einar Bjorndalen, who were hired to coach the team. 

The women were first to get underway under windy conditions, with Norway Belarus, and France leading the way. When they came into the first shoot, it was Italy, Finland, and Sweden coming through clean. Norway missed once that dropped the team to tenth. Susan Dunklee of the United States missed three, which put them in a big hole. The Italians came into the second shoot with their first shot missing. She managed to go clean for the rest to finish a half-second ahead of Norway. 

At the five-kilometer mark, Norway took the lead going up the hill, with Italy falling behind by four seconds. Belarus was 26 seconds back, with Sweden right behind them. At the first changeover, Norway sent their first woman out, with Italy doing so 16 seconds later. Belarus remained third, with Sweden in fourth and ROC fifth. 

Norway widened the gap on the first lap of the second leg, gaining 24 seconds on the Italians, with Belarus four seconds behind them. The Oeberg sisters kept Sweden locked in fourth, hoping that the shoot on the leg would help them get back into contention. Norway came in and missed three times while Italy missed once. Belarus also missed three that gave the Italians a 13-second lead. Sweden missed three that handed ROC a spot up by a second. The Americans overcame their struggles, moving from 19^th to seventh. 

Coming into the second shoot, Italy and Norway were locked in together where it would determine who would do better before the second exchange. In the stand position, Norway missed five and Italy three, with Belarus doing just as bad. Italy somehow came out front, with France in second and the United States behind in third. In the skiing portion, Sweden overtook the Americans while Italy and France ran off.

They made the exchange to the men’s side of the competition, with Norway sitting in fifth behind Team USA. In the first shoot, it was France in first, with the Italian’s trailing and Sweden closing the gap. France went clean before the Italians shot their first yet also cleared with Sweden. The first half of the Boe brothers for Norway did well at the range, bringing their team to fourth place.  

France had a 31-second lead, with Italy and Sweden close together and Norway 20 seconds behind. France was alone for a time and missed three when Italy and Sweden showed up. Things mixed up with the ROC taking the lead and the US moving into second. Sweden, France, and Italy rounded out the top five, with misses and time costing them. At the final exchange, the ROC came in, with Sweden and France in the top three while the Americans fell to fourth. Norway cut the gap by 20 seconds with their best biathlete in play to bring hope back to them. 

At the range, ROC missed just once to stay in first, with France behind them and Norway getting into third. Sweden took fourth and a critical miss for the Americans took them out of the running for a medal. On the last shoot, the ROC was alone for a moment but got clear, with France on their tail. Norway moved back to third but was nine seconds behind. The three athletes were nearly clumped together going up the hill, with France trying to get out front as defending champs.

With less than a kilometer to go, it was a close race between the three nations, and at the finish line, Norway took off to win the gold, France edged the ROC by a second and a half. Sweden finished in fourth with Germany overcoming their worst performance on the range as a whole to take fifth. Team USA managed to make it to the finish line in seventh behind Belarus, who completed the race in sixth.