The Italian team won the mixed relay at the Biathlon World Cup in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic.

The Italian team, consisting of Dorothea Wierer, Lisa Vittozzi, Lukas Hofer and Tommaso Giacomel, achieved a time of 1 hour 3 minutes 11.7 seconds (0 penalties and 10 extra rounds). The second place was taken by the French team (Ocean Michelot, Justine Brezaz-Boucher, Oscar Lombardo, Quentin Fillon Maillet; backlog – 24.7 seconds; 0+7), the top three was completed by the Czech team (Essika Jislova, Tereza Vobornikova, Viteslav Hornig, Michal Krcmar; +57.2; 0+7).

In the single mixed relay, Germans Marlene Fichtner and Leonard Pfund took first place. However, the German team was later disqualified due to violating safety rules when handling a rifle – after the second shooting from a prone position, Fichtner incorrectly secured the weapon on her back.

After this decision, the victory went to the Finnish team, which was represented by Suvi Minkkinen and Tero Seppälä (34.59.8; 0+8). The second place was taken by the French Jeanne Richard and Emilien Claude (+11.3; 0+6), the third – by the Norwegians Uni Arnekleive and Martin Nevland (+16.7; 0+8).

The World Cup stage in Nove Mesto will end on Sunday with races from a general start.

Silver medalist of the Olympic Games in biathlon, Belarusian Anton Smolsky, won the pursuit race as part of the fourth stage of the Alfa-Bank Commonwealth Biathlon Cup, which takes place in Raubichi.

Smolsky covered the 12.5 km distance in 37 minutes 21.2 seconds, making two misses in four shooting ranges.

Second place was taken by Saveliy Konovalov (lag – 8.2 seconds; 2 misses), the top three was closed by Karim Khalili (+24.9; 0 misses).

On Sunday, a mixed relay will take place in Raubichi, starting at 13:45 Moscow time.

Watch the live broadcast of the competition from 13:35 (Moscow time) on the TV channels “Match TV” and “Match! Arena”, as well as the websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.

The press service of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) told Match TV that Russian athletes will not take part in the parade of athletes at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games; the issue of participation in the closing ceremony has not yet been resolved.

The 2026 Olympics will take place in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo from February 6 to 22. Russian athletes will compete in a neutral status.

– Individual neutral athletes will not take part in the athletes’ parade, but will be given the opportunity to attend the event both in Milan and in the mountain clusters.

As for the closing ceremony, a decision on this issue has not yet been made, the IOC press service told Match TV.