At the Anterselva Biathlon Arena on Tuesday, the U.S. men’s biathlon relay team did something no American quartet had done before: finish inside the top five at the Olympic Winter Games.
Sean Doherty, Maxime Germain, Paul Schommer and Campbell Wright crossed the line in 1:22:22.6, finishing 2 minutes and 27.4 seconds behind gold medalist France to claim fifth place in the men’s 4x7.5 km relay at Milan Cortina 2026. The result surpasses the previous best Olympic relay finishes in U.S. biathlon history: sixth place, achieved at both the 1972 and 2018 Winter Games.
Team USA was never out of the fight for a top-five result. Their path from 16th after the opening leg to fifth at the finish was boosted by Germain’s flawless shooting, Wright’s closing speed and enough composure across all four legs to use just eight spare rounds on the day, the fifth-best shooting performance among the 20 teams in the field.
Doherty drew the leadoff leg and kept Team USA within range despite a costly standing stage. He shot clean in prone with one spare round, but needed three spares in standing—his section time of 1:14.8 at that stage was the 19th-slowest in the field and pushed the U.S. from 14th to 17th. His ski speed was competitive throughout, with a 2:02.0 split to the 3.1 km mark ranking seventh among the 20 leadoff legs. He handed off in 16th place, 1:01.6 behind the leaders.
Germain changed the complexion of the race on the second leg. He was the only American to shoot clean across both stages without using a spare round, posting the fourth-fastest prone shooting time at 51.7 seconds and the second-fastest standing time at 51.6. His perfect range work moved the U.S. from 16th to 10th after the standing stage. His opening split to the 8.1 km checkpoint was the fastest of all 20 second-leg skiers at 1:44.4. Germain handed off in 12th place, having trimmed the team’s deficit and set up the back half of the relay.
Schommer held steady on the third leg despite some uneven skiing. He used one spare in prone and cleaned standing without extras, posting the fourth-fastest standing shooting time at 52.1 seconds. That clean standing stage was critical, as it moved the team from 14th back to 11th and kept the U.S. in position for Wright to make his move. Schommer’s closing splits were strong, with a 1:36.0 at the 21.2 km mark ranking 10th and a 1:37.1 to the 22.0 km checkpoint ranking fifth among third-leg skiers. He exchanged in 11th, 2:08.4 off the lead.
Wright took the anchor and his opening splits on the final leg were among the fastest in the field: 1:48.2 to the 23.1 km mark ranked second, 1:33.1 at 23.7 km ranked fourth, and his 1:36.8 to the 24.5 km checkpoint was the second-fastest among all anchor legs, vaulting the team from 11th to sixth on course speed alone.
Then the range intervened. Wright needed three spare rounds in prone, and the extra time dropped the U.S. from sixth to 10th. But he recovered, again. He cleaned standing in 50.4 seconds, the third-fastest mark among anchor legs, and rocketed back to fifth place. His split of 1:48.0 to the 25.6 km checkpoint after exiting the prone stage was the fastest in the field, and his 1:38.6 to the 29.5 km mark also led all anchor skiers. Wright finished the leg in 1:39.1, sealing fifth place and the best Olympic relay result in U.S. biathlon history.
France won gold in 1:19:55.2 behind a dominant anchor leg from Eric Perrot, with Quentin Fillon Maillet’s third-leg performance making him the most decorated French Winter Olympian in history with eight career Olympic medals. Norway took silver in 1:20:05.0, just 9.8 seconds back, while Sweden earned bronze in 1:20:52.7 for its first Olympic medal in the men’s relay since 2018.
The relay marked the final Olympic race at Milan Cortina for Doherty, Germain and Schommer. Wright returns to the Anterselva start line for the men’s 15 km mass start on Friday, Feb. 20. The women’s 4x6 km relay follows on Wednesday, Feb. 18, with the women's 12.5 km mass start closing out the biathlon program on Saturday, Feb. 21. Live biathlon coverage is available on Peacock, with additional broadcasts on NBC and USA Network.
