Legacy Definers
Quentin Fillon Maillet – There was a moment early in the 2020-2021 season that lives in my memory as clear as day. It was the first weekend of the season taking place in Kontiolahti. For the French men this was a major moment of transition. One of the true all time greats, Martin Fourcade, had gone into a somewhat early retirement at just 31 years old. The French team was struggling to find their way, looking at how to continue to challenge at the top of the sport without the man who had dominated it for so long. As that weekend came to a close you could almost see how the burden of leadership was weighing on the then 28 year old Quentin Fillon Maillet.
Fast forward now to February of 2026. Quentin Fillon Maillet has completely transformed his legacy. No longer standing in the shadow of one of the all time greats, QFM is now firmly entrenched as one of those men that we’ll remember forever. In the time since that difficult first post-Fourcade weekend QFM has done the following:
– 1 Overall World Cup Globe (2021-2022)
– 2 Discipline Globes (2021-2022 Sprint and Pursuit)
– 11 more World Championship medals for a total of 20
– 16 of his 19 career wins
– And now: 9 Olympic medals
The first chunk of these medals came at the 2022 Beijing Games. This was the same season as his Overall Globe as Quentin Fillon Maillet was establishing himself as one of the true top men in the sport. Those five medals equaled the most ever won in a single Olympic Games alongside Marte Olsbu Roeiseland and Johannes Thingnes Boe who equaled that number in those same Games.
The second group of four medals came at these 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. At the famed and beloved Antholz Sud Tirol Arena Quentin Fillon Maillet won:
– Mixed Relay Gold
– Sprint Gold
– Relay Gold (the first in the history of French biathlon)
– Mass Start Bronze
One amazing Olympics we’ve seen before. Two Olympic Games accumulating four or more medals each is unprecedented. As in literally never been done before. It has surged Quentin Fillon Maillet into the highest ranks of the sport. He is now tied for 2nd most total Olympic medals. His five Olympic gold medals are 3rd most all time behind just Ole Einar Bjoerndalen and Martin Fourcade.
Nobody “wins” the Olympics. But in 2026 in Antholz, Quentin Fillon Maillet won the battle to cement his legacy as one of the greats. He’s going to be remember for all time, not just as the man who followed up Martin Fourcade, but who carried forward the French men’s biathlon legacy. While not on the top shelf with the three giants of the sport, QFM will proudly be listed amongst the men just one step behind them.
(Okay that was the big one…we’ll go quicker now)
Sturla Holm Laegreid – Sturla Holm Laegreid’s first impression at these Games was…not great. The interview which broke the seal and infiltrated the public consciousness in a way biathlon doesn’t normally do. Laegreid apologized publicly at large, to his team, and for the most part appears to have been reaccepted by his teammates. That allowed us to appreciate, at least from a biathlon perspective, the achievements be put forward at the Sud Tirol arena over the last two week.
– Individual Bronze
– Sprint Bronze
– Pursuit Silver
– Relay Silver
– Mass Start Silver
At the end of the day he put together an Olympic Games medal total that has only been done just three times before, as noted above, at the 2022 Olympic Games. Put another way, no biathlete has ever won more medals in a single Olympic Games than Sturla Holm Laegreid did at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.
Also, at these 2026 Games, only one individual won more medals, the all time great Johannes Hosflot Klaebo who won six. Maybe Laegreid didn’t have a gold, but honestly to me that doesn’t matter as much. What Laegreid proved was consistent high level success. Would he have loved to have a gold medal? Absolutely. But right now he will be able to comfort himself with a purely massive medal haul.
At age 29 this was likely Sturla Holm Laegreid’s best opportunity to achieve Olympic success. You only get one go every four years at it, and for those aiming to etch their names into the lists of the greats, it can be a massive weight on your shoulders. In retrospect, Laegreid clearly scarified a run at another Overall Globe, of which he won his first last season. But, it worked to perfection as he takes home this heavy medal haul.
Laegreid is starting to build quite the resume:
– 2025-2026 Overall Globe
– 5 Discipline Globes
– 6 Olympic medal (13th most all time)
– 14 World Championship medals
– 16 total wins
Those numbers are starting to build up towards the level of the man ahead of him on this list and Laegreid is well on his way to a Hall of Fame level career. For a man intent on building out his all time legacy, these Olympics were very important. With 5 medals this season it’s fair to say: Mission accomplished.
Julia Simon – Even when her Overall finishes haven’t been as high as her 2022-2023 Overall Globe winning season, Julia Simon has maintained a position as one of the strongest and most feared women in the sport. That position has only grown as she leaves Antholz with four medals including gold in the Individual, silver in the Mass Start as well as gold in both the Mixed and Women’s Relays.
It wasn’t just the medals but the way she won them. In the Individual she was clearly the strongest woman on the day with an exceptional skiing performance. In the Relays she was hardly challenged, taking over with a lead and never for an instant even cracking the door open. But it was the Mass Start, the one medal she won that wasn’t gold, where she truly shined. Early in the final lap she looked to be a half step slow. She was running 3rd and then was passed by Oceane Michelon with relative ease. But she dug deep and found the strength to not only get back into podium position but all the way back up to silver. It was a magnificent performance that few other biathletes, man or woman, are capable of.
Simon exits these Games reclaiming her position, once again, as one of the top women in biathlon. Ask anybody in the field who the least want to see behind them and it would be stunning if Simon wasn’t amongst the first 3 names mentioned. She displayed a form that once again makes her a threat to win any race she wants.
And now, by pushing her career Olympic medal total up to 5, to go along with her Overall Globe, 13 World Championship medals (10 gold), and 2 discipline Globes, Julia Simon is pushing herself into a new conversation. Is she not just one of the strongest women of this generation of biathlon, but also into the historical conversation?
Lou Jeanmonnot – At just 27 years old Lou Jeanmonnot has 2 runner up Overall finishes, 3 Discipline Globes, is the odds on favorite for the Overall Globe this season, not to mention at least 2 Discipline Globes if not more, 7 World Championship medals. After the two weeks in Antholz she now has four Olympic medals. And yet, nearly everything you hear on social media or otherwise is about how it was a disappointing Olympics because she didn’t win a non-relay gold medal.
I choose not to feel that way. First of all, four Olympic medals in a single Games is a terrific Games. It’s just something that doesn’t happen all the time. Secondly, her relay performances were par excellence. In the Women’s Relay she took over with a deficit of 50 seconds and handed off in a virtual tie for 1st.
Also, at the end of her career, I have news for you: nobody will care if she had a gold medal or not. How do you feel about Dorothea Wierer? Or Raphael Poiree? Or Tiril Eckhoff? Or Gabriela Koukalova? Or Tarjei Boe? Or Liv Grete Poiree? Or Uschi Disl? Or Ricco Gross? Or I could go on. Do you know how many non-relay Olympic gold medals that entire group has? 0. Zilch. Not a one. And yet they all continue to hold immense respect in the biathlon world.
Furthermore, Lou Jeanmonnot is 27 years old. As long as she stays healthy she is going to have at least one more chance at Olympic glory. Plus, she already has four Olympic medals.
This was a great two weeks for Lou Jeanmonnot and the legacy she is building in the sport. She, and many fans, may not see that yet, but when we look back in 10-20 years the color of these medals won’t matter nearly as much.
Oceane Michelon – I’m not sure anybody changed the way the general biathlon public views them as much as Oceane Michelon. Not that she wasn’t highly respected, she cdertainly was. Two years ago she won the IBU Cup Overall. Last year she was the u23 Globe. This season she was off to a disappointing start and after a podium in Oestersund she wasn’t able to find the podium again until Nove Mesto. Now let’s be clear, this was disappointment in a way that almost everybody else would like to have disappointment. But still, after the way her career trajectory was on, it wasn’t quite where she was expected to be.
After two weeks in Antholz for the Olympic Games, she is beyond corrected that. It wasn’t just that she won 3 medals, it was how she did it. She showed excellent skiing in the Sprint as she “settled” for silver, only being out done by Maren Kirkeeide. She only seemed to get stronger from there. Even in the Pursuit, while she didn’t back up her medal, she continued to fight back from repeated misses and only just missed the podium. In the Relay she was simply stunning, turning what was basically a tie race into a very solid French lead that was nearly unbeatable. Finally, in the Mass Start she was easily the strongest woman, pushing hard on the skis, and overcoming 2 misses to overtake Tereza Vobornikova late on the last lap to take the gold.
She exits the Olympic Games proving herself not just as an up and coming talent, but a developing star of the sport. The level that she showed in Antholz was one of the absolute best in the game. She showed that not only can she be a consistently good biathlete but that she can be one who challenges for the Overall sooner rather than later.
Bronze Like Gold
Suvi Minkkinen – This is the moment that, more than anything else, validated everything. All of it. The dramatic training change relocating, for the most part on her own dime, to training in the Alps all summer. Becoming a regular in the top 10. The 9 podiums. The win. The World Championship medal. It was also an amazing story of a solid biathlete, deep into her career, becoming a great one. This bronze medal takes her up a step. She is now the ONLY Finnish biathlete ever to attain an Olympic medal. Not Kaisa Makarainen. Not Mari Eder. It is Suvi Minkkinen.
Did she *need* this medal to establish her place in the pantheon of great Finnish biathletes? No, she already pretty much did that with everything noted above. But now having the one thing no other Finnish woman has entrenches her there for all time.
Clearly this was a massive thing for Suvi Minkkinen. She had a great time with it. Her smile on the podium was huge. The videos on Instagram were hilarious. It’s life changing. Clearly this bronze medal was the sweetest gold.
Lora Hristova – Likely the most stunning moment of biathlon at these Olympic Games was the bronze medal by Lora Hristova in the Individual. Prior to this there were just two women from Bulgaria who had ever won an Olympic medal. The 22 year old with a career best of 13th, and just two career top 20’s on the World Cup level, was certainly looked at as a woman with a high career potential…but not this soon.
In her decorated Juniors career she did have six top 10’s including two medals at the 2022-2023 Junior European Championships as well as 6th, 8th, and 10th x2 at various Youth/Junior Worlds. Again, though, she had just two World Cup top 20’s coming into these Olympics. But with clearly excellent ski prep, Hristova had some of the best ski ranks of her career. Combined with excellent shooting (hitting 100% x2 and 90% x2), Hristova was in the mix at some point in basically every race.
Now the bar is raised for her. She’s going to go into races and seasons not just as a promising young athlete but as an Olympic medalist. Hopefully she continues to have patience with herself. As her teammate Milena Todorova can tell her it’s not going to be all podiums and top 10’s from here on out. There is still growth to happen. But now fans and the media will certainly be having higher expectations for her. She could very well meet them. I just hope that she’s ready to be patient with herself as she continues to build towards this ultimate high level.
Tereza Vobornikova – Over the last 3-5 years Tereza Vorbornikova has been looked at as a potential future leader of the Czechia team and and a threat to break into the top 10 of the Overall on a regular basis. Along with reaching that potential would be becoming an athlete who is a threat to find the podium on a regular basis including possible World Championship and Olympic medals. She’s certainly been making steady progress towards reaching that potential, including three consecutive top 21 Overall seasons from ages 23 through 25 (current season). This included 9 top 10’s over that stretch. Even knowing all of that this moment felt ahead of schedule.
When I wrote my piece from before the Olympics and Possible Surprise Medal Contenders I specifically mentioned Tereza Vobornikova. However, in that piece I made sure to specifically point out that it might seem like a surprise to a casual biathlon fan, but there is a very good chance that when we look back at the end of her career that a medal at the 2026 Olympics might not seem like a surprise or out of place at all.
When we zoom out we now see that she seems to have planned her season perfectly. She has six straight top 20 finishes as we head to the third trimester of the 2025-2026 season. That’s just one top 20 shy of the longest top 20 streak of her career, the close to the 2023-2024 season when she first flashed her sky high potential. She clearly built her season to be at her absolute best in Antholz and it paid off with a bronze medal.
What she did at the Olympics that allowed her to have such good results was that she returned to her normally very good shooting. She hit 90% or above in every race. She took advantage of good skis in the snowy conditions, and an excellent performance on those skis mind you, to take the best course time rank of her career: 3rd in the Mass Start.
If she can keep climbing as she has though, she will continue to be a podium threat throughout her career and she may very well reach that yearly top 10 Overall potential.
Emilien Jacquelin – Emilien Jacquelin is the most entertaining man in biathlon. He knows only one way to race: All Out. Fast skiing. Fast shooting. It’s impossible to look away. Is he going to run away with the win? Is he going to collapse in epic fashion? No matter what you know it’s going to be a wildly exciting race.
The Sprint at these Olympic Games proved to be the collapse. After having a top time throughout the race he fired off an absolutely crazy 5/5 standing shooting in 16.8 seconds. As he started the last lap he was 6.3 seconds ahead of Quentin Fillon Maillet, 17.3 seconds ahead of Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen, and 20.8 seconds up on Sturla Holm Laegreid. We all know what happened next. He staggered to the finish and came up short. Off the podium by 0.2 seconds. Jacquelin was devastated.
He came back stronger. Unable to race any other way, he raced the Pursuit in his own classic fashion. Once again he was at the front of the race nearly the entire way. Once again he found a way to bring himself to the brink of collapse. First with 2 misses on the final shoot. At times on the final lap he appeared to be on his last legs. After leaving the range with 23 seconds in hand over 4th place Eric Perrot that gap came down to just 9 seconds late in the lap. But Jacquelin rallied and held on for the sweetest bronze medal. He said later that he would rather win bronze racing his own race than win gold racing like somebody else.
Even more than this, he had his hero moment in the relay. After Fabien Claude struggled on the opening leg, putting up a penalty loop that put France in last place, Emilien Jacquelin was a wild man. He unleashed an absolutely crazy opening lap. He cut the deficit from 45 seconds to 23 seconds before the first shoot. Another stunning 5/5 and he was off the range not only near the lead, but in first place. From last to first in just 1 loop. He held strong, even has he was exhausted late, and handed off a lead to Quentin Fillon Maillet.
Emilien Jacquelin raced his race, and as a result, while the color of his medal was bronze, to him, it was his own gold.
Gold Like Gold
Lisa Vittozzi – The phoenix of Italy rose again in the Women’s Pursuit. Before the Olympics nobody in biathlon would have been surprised to see Lisa Vittozzi winning a medal at these Games. When you think back to how far she’s come though, it’s a near miraculous thing. Just four years ago she struggled mightily with her shot and looked nearly lost. She recovered from that to win the 2023-2024 Overall Globe. That was followed by an entire missed season due to back back last year. And yet, here she is, 2026 Women’s Pursuit Champion.
With everything she’s had to overcome you can see how much this medal has meant to her. She said only recently that it’s been such an emotionally and physically trying few years that she feels like she needs a break. While it would still be surprising to see her retire, you can understand why she feels this way. At this point, likely nothing could be sweeter than this gold medal.
Johan-Olav Botn – It’s hard to feel better for any single individual at the Olympics than Johan-Olav Botn. After finally earning a regular spot on the World Cup Botn proved to be spectacular racing out to a massive lead in the Overall. Then came the sudden and tragic passing of his good friend Sivert Bakken. The emotional trauma of finding him obviously weighed heavily on Botn and played a part, along with his prolonged illness, in missing the first two weeks of the 2nd trimester.
Yet there he was steadily shooting his way clean through the race. Ultimately one of just two men to hit all of 20 shots in the Individual (which we’ve come to expect but goodness it seems a long way from where he was on the range not that long ago) he comes across the finish line with a magnificent and ultimately winning time. Running in bib 58 he knew when he crossed the line that he was likely going to have a medal and the celebration was immediate and joyous.
This was a magical moment. Pointing to the sky in remembrance of his past teammate and friend, Botn said later that on the last lap he felt he was skiing with the strength of two men. This was a truly golden moment.
Johannes Dale-Skjevdal – Another Norwegian man who has been overcoming repeated bumps in the road is Johannes Dale-Skjevdal. Things never seem to go easily for Dale-Skjevdal. He reaches 5th in the Overall in 2020-2021 and the next year, after early season struggles he’s back to the IBU Cup. Incidentally he missed the 2022 Beijing Olympics. He fights his way back to the World Cup finishing 7th in the 22-23 season and 3rd in the 23-24 campaign. And yet, after not being able to reach his apex again last year, he was demoted to the IBU Cup once again. He started this season back on the IBU Cup once again but he wasn’t deterred. He won his 3 races on the IBU Cup, came back to the World Cup, and ultimately fought his was to 6th Overall including winning the Pursuit in Ruhpolding.
Today, and forever, Johannes Dale-Skjevdal can introduce himself as Olympic gold medalist. It is magnificent that his hard work and his persistence paid off with a crowning achievement that any biathlete would dream of. He secured the first 20/20 of his career, skied as strong as you would expect, and pulled away for a gorgeous gold medal.
The best part was how happy everybody was for him. And I mean everybody. Johannes and Tareji Boe reached across from where they were commenting on the race for a big hug. Nearly every competitor found their way to him and looked genuinely enthused. His teammates were all grinning. A truly beautiful moment to end the Men’s Olympic Games.
Unsurprising Wonderful Golds
Martin Ponsiluoma – Seeing Martin Ponsiluoma win a gold medal is in no way a surprise. For yeras now he’s been one of the fastest men in biathlon. Every race he starts he’s a threat to take a podium spot. What was miraculous about this was how he did it. Yes, he was skiing well. But he came back from 7th position at the start because of his shooting. It was just the 5th time in his career he hit 95% or better in a 4 shoot race. Considering he’s run over 175 World Cup level races now that’s not exactly a common occurrence for him now.
It was also the situation. The Swedish team was in the midst of a pretty rough start to the Olympic Games. There seemed to be under performance across the team. It really seemed to turn with Ponsiluoma’s amazing day. Both Ponsiluoma and the Swedish team really needed it right then. So was it a surprise to see Ponsiluoma winning a medal? Certainly not. But that doesn’t make it any less special!
Maren Kirkeeide – Over the last few seasons we’ve watched Maren Kirkeeide bloom from a extremely young talented athlete into truly one of the best women in the sport. It’s still hard to remember that she’s only 22 years old and will be wearing the blue bib when World Cup racing returns in Konthiolahti.
While she’s always been fast, and she’s almost always a good skier, this season Kirkeeide has learned how to close. There was the Mass Start in le Grand Bornand where she pulled away from Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Lou Jeanmonnot on the final lap of the race and then held them off. There was the relay in Ruhpolding where she really turned into the hammer, blasting from +8 on Julia Simon on 2nd place and +11.9 on Lisa Vittozzi all the way to the lead.
The 2026 Olympic Sprint was another magnificent day. She was 10/10 but one the day thanks to being the fastest woman in the field. That was the first time in her career that she’s been the absolute fastest woman in a World Cup level race.
Already at 22 years old she is a top 5 overall skier and shooting a hair over 87%. She has all of the make up to develop in to the kind of woman who can regularly challenge the likes of Lou Jeanmonnot and Oceane Michelon for wins and globes. Winning a gold medal isn’t a stunner for her, but it’s a still a sensation arrival moment for her.