Medals update: Norway wins gold in Beijing 2022 Biathlon – Mixed Relay 4x6km

The Norwegian quartet of Tiril Eckhoff, Marte Olsbu Roeiseland, Johannes Thingnes Boe and Tarjei Boe added to the gold from Sochi 2014 and the silver they won four years ago in PyeongChang 2018.

The relay came down to an exhilarating sprint with Johannes Thingnes Boe getting his nose in front to win in a time of 1:06:45.6. Norway had three penalties and 13 spare rounds. Boe finished less than a second ahead of Frenchman Quentin Fillon Maillet. The ROC's Eduard Latypov finished a second and a half adrift for third place.

The mixed relay – making its third appearance at the Winter Olympic Games – served as the curtain-raiser of the biathlon competition at Beijing 2022, setting the tone for the rest of the showpiece.

Norway is the only nation to step onto the podium at each edition where the mixed relay has been staged since Sochi 2014 while it was the ROC’s first medal in the event.

While the lead seesawed over the four legs, Norway was always within striking distance to claim the title.

“I saw early I gained some seconds and then I believed I can catch them,” Johannes Thingnes Boe said after the race.

**“**With the two kilometre course here, I knew it was going to end up a sprint and I've been prepared since I came here on Monday. I trained what to do and did my best performance and my preparation for last week, I already did it in my head 100 times.

"My feeling to anchor team Norway for gold, it doesn't get any bigger than this."

A sprint to the finish

The standing section proved to be the great equaliser which ultimately saw some of the early leaders lose ground.

Norwegian lead off Olsbu Roeiseland launched an impressive comeback after she had some difficulties during the prone section losing more than 20 seconds on Italian pacesetter Lisa Vittozzi.

Olsbu Roeiseland clawed her way back to overtake Vittozzi to hand over to Eckhoff at the first exchange with a 16.7-seconds advantage.

Norway lost ground in the two middle legs where they were fighting from fifth place, with Tarjei Boe handing over to his brother on the final leg.

Johannes Thingnes Boe produced a spirited fightback to reel in Latypov, who led the field going into the anchor leg. The trio of Johannes Thingnes Boe, Latypov and Maillet skied together over the final kilometre setting up a dramatic finish.

Individual Olympic champion Johannes Thingnes Boe stepped up a gear in the final stretch to overtake Latypov to earn his second mixed relay medal upgrading the silver from four years ago.

"We did a great job, the whole team, and I'm so happy to race with such good teammates. It's my first Olympic gold, so I'm super happy," said Olsbu Roeiseland.