BORMIO, Italy, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- France's Emily Harrop and Thibault Anselmet powered to mixed relay gold on Saturday, bringing the curtain down on ski mountaineering's Olympic debut at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games.
The reigning world champions clocked a winning time of 26 minutes 57.44 seconds. Switzerland's Marianne Fatton and Jon Kistler finished 11.86 seconds behind for silver. Spain's Ana Alonso Rodriguez and Oriol Cardona Coll took bronze in 27:23.94 after being assessed a three-second penalty for failing to complete a transition within the designated zone.
For Harrop, the victory marked her second medal of the Games, having taken silver in the women's sprint behind Fatton earlier in the week. She acknowledged that the earlier defeat had sharpened her focus.
"I knew it was gonna be a tough race. I was really stressed this morning. And I didn't want to let go of the second opportunity," she said, adding that their plan was to break away early and force their rivals to chase.
"I knew Marianne was going to be super strong," Harrop said. "It was kind of part of our strategy today to go off strong and to just make everyone run after us."
The French pair remained in front at every exchange. By the time Anselmet approached the final descent on the anchor leg, their advantage had effectively sealed the outcome.
The 28-year-old celebrated with spectators lining the course before skiing down to the finish. He described the gesture as a spontaneous decision to share the moment.
"I said to myself, 'it's okay. You can celebrate with people', and it's a pleasure. People are here to have emotions and it was a good moment," Anselmet said.
Both athletes expressed hope that the event would strengthen ski mountaineering's foothold in the Olympic program.
"These two days were the first foot in the door of skimo's Olympic journey. And we're proud to think that people enjoyed the show and we really hope that it's gonna continue for us in 2030," Harrop said, adding that she would like to see the traditional individual long-distance discipline - typically staged in backcountry terrain - included at future Games.
China's Cidanyuzhen and Buluer finished eighth. The youngest duo in the field said they were satisfied with their result.
"My results have been steadily improving throughout this season, and I have no regrets at these Olympic Winter Games," said 20-year-old Buluer. "My future goal is to let every team in the world get to know Chinese ski mountaineering."
