Harrop, Anselmet combine to win mixed relay for France as part of ski mountaineering's Olympic debut

BORMIO, Italy (AP) — Once Thibault Anselmet reached the top of the last climb, he began to raise his hands. Then, a triumphant punch through the air.

Because a gold medal was simply all downhill from there.

Emily Harrop and Anselmet jumped out to a lead and never looked back in combining to win the mixed relay for France on Saturday as part of ski mountaineering's Olympic debut at the Milan Cortina Games.

All part of their lung-burning strategy.

“Go off strong and to just make everyone run after us,” Harrop explained. “I was ready to push and to dig deep. I feel like I couldn’t have pushed much harder today.”

In this particular race, each athlete completed two laps, tagging the other after every loop. Harrop and Anselmet finished the Stelvio course in a time of 26 minutes, 57.44 seconds, holding off the Swiss team of Marianne Fatton and Jon Kistler by 11.86 seconds. Spanish racers Ana Alonso Rodriguez and Oriol Cardona Coll captured the bronze.

Ski mountaineering, which is called “skimo” for short, was voted into the Olympic program in 2021. The individual sprint races crowned the sport's first Olympic champions — Fatton and Cardona Coll — on Thursday with the falling snow adding another element to the historic day.

On this afternoon, it was all about stamina — who could suffer the best over a tough course. Harrop grabbed the early lead on the first lap and the French kept pushing the lung-searing pace. So confident was Anselmet that he started celebrating well before the finish line — at the top of the course, a mini-celebration, and midway down the descent, an arms-raised celebration. Of course, at the finish, a full-out celebration.

“It was really fun,” Anselmet said.

A thrilling end to a sport that made quite an initial impression.

The only remaining question is this: What’s the Olympic future for ski mountaineering? It’s a proposed sport for the 2030 Winter Games in the French Alps.

“We feel like these two days were the first foot in the door of skimo’s Olympic journey,” said Harrop, the silver medalist in the sprint race. “We’re proud to think that, yeah, people enjoyed it, enjoyed the show. We really hope that it’s going to continue for us in 2030.”

The fans certainly welcomed the pulse-raising pace of this race.

“There was so much crowd and energy and so many people to cheer for us,” Fatton said. “It’s amazing.”

American racers Anna Gibson and Cameron Smith finished in fourth. Not bad for a team that months ago didn't even have a spot in Bormio. Gibson only began competing a short while ago and helped Smith and Americans secure a spot to the Winter Games at a World Cup event in early December.

“I think it shows that the moment wasn't too big for us,” Smith said of their finish. “We performed out of our minds today.”

They were quite the teammates, too, right down to their matching pink cowboy hats after the race.

“For me, (the hat) is just a reminder to stay loose and stay joyful,” explained Gibson, who, like Smith, had numerous family and friends in the stands. “Remember that it’s all for fun.”

It was a different course setup than the sprint race, with an extra ascent and descent adding to the already difficult challenge. The mixed teams alternated between female and male racers over four laps. The course length was listed as 1,410 meters (4,626 feet) with the total ascent around 137 meters (450 feet).

The racers started on an ascent before a descent into the transition zone. They put on their “skins” — a piece of fabric on the bottom of the skis for better uphill traction — as they navigated a diamond-shaped pattern that led them to a set of stairs. They stowed their skis on their backs and ran up the steps in ski boots. Then they put their skis back on and scaled another uphill climb before taking the skins off again and flying downhill.

Once they reached the “handover” zone, they tagged their partner to begin another lap. Fatton cut the lead heading into the final lap but Anselmet found another gear to restore the advantage.

“I was really motivated to catch her,” Fatton said of Harrop. “That gave me fire for the whole race, for the second loop. I gave everything. It was an amazing race.”

Even through his exhaustion, Cardona Coll echoed that thought in a race where his team weathered a three-second penalty for a rules infraction. His partner, Alonso Rodriguez, also competed on a torn ACL suffered in a car crash in September while training on her bike.

“Really tired. We gave it all today,” Cardona Coll said. “An amazing day. .. A lot of joy and a lot of happiness.”

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

France's Thibault Anselmet celebrates winning a gold medal in a ski mountaineering mixed relay, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

France's Emily Harrop, left, and France's Thibault Anselmet celebrate winning gold in a ski mountaineering mixed relay, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Italy's Alba de Silvestro, left, is followed by Austria's Johanna Hiemer, during a ski mountaineering mixed relay, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

France's Emily Harrop competes during a ski mountaineering mixed relay, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

France's Emily Harrop, foreground, leads the group during a ski mountaineering mixed relay, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026.(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Kelly Pannek was so determined to carve out a future in hockey while still at college, the forward made the conscious decision to sacrifice offense to focus on her shutdown skills.

The choice led to Pannek becoming a U.S. national team fixture as a three-time Olympian, beginning in 2018, and establish herself as one of women's hockey's best defensive forwards.

Some eight years later, Pannek discovered she hasn’t lost her scoring touch in closing her third PWHL season with Minnesota.

In a league featuring proven offensive stars in Hilary Knight and Marie-Philip Poulin, and teammates Taylor Heise and Kendall Coyne Schofield, Pannek topped them all as the two-time defending Walter Cup champion Frost open the playoffs at Montreal on Saturday.

Pannek led the PWHL with 16 goals and a league-record 33 points, and was one assist from completing what would have been rare hockey triple crown — for men or women.

“I think more than anything, it’s reassuring and confidence-building to know that I used to be someone who was often relied on to provide offense for teams, and I still am that player,” Pannek said by phone this week. “I just needed to kind of re-find it, I guess.”

Her 33 points in 30 games this year surpassed her total production in her first two seasons, when she combined for seven goals and 27 points in 54 games.

And the offensive output didn’t hinder Pannek’s defensive play.

She finished sixth in the PWHL with a plus-13 plus-minus rating. She also won 341 of 575 faceoffs for a 59.3% success rate, third among players with 200 or more attempts.

“I don’t want to say no, because I think she’s a great player,” Frost coach Ken Klee said when asked whether he expected this much production from Pannek.

“From the beginning of the year, she seemed different. Our very first coach’s meeting, we had her in the office, and she just seemed lighter, she seemed more energetic," Klee added. “I really think she just said, ‘Hey, I’m going to play free, and if it's time to play offense, I'm going to play offense.' She's just really taken a next step.”

There are several reasons behind Pannek flipping the offensive switch.

An offseason roster shake-up caused by Minnesota losing talent in the expansion process led to Pannek realizing she was going to have to contribute more offensively.

Another factor was Pannek growing in confidence while turning 30 in December.

In her early Team USA days, Pannek stuck to defense and shied away from opening up on offense in fear of making mistakes that could cost her ice time or even her roster spot.

In the PWHL, Pannek came to realize she had more job security and, with it, the leeway to make a mistake or two over a 30-game season, as opposed to the pressure that comes with competing in two-week international tournaments where miscues are magnified.

“There’s a lot of implications with points and stuff on the line, but you also accept that you’re going to make mistakes, and goals are going to go in and it’s not life or death,” Pannek said of PWHL play. “I’ll still be on the team if I have a bad game and if I have a great game. ... So I think a lot of it was a little bit of a mentality shift.”

She's had far more good games than bad, and called this season “invigorating.”

Former U.S. star Meghan Duggan is not surprised by Pannek’s development: “She always had it in her, but it just started to come out as of late.”

What stood out to Duggan was the maturity and reliability Pannek brought to the ice even as a 22-year-old.

“Kelly Pannek is a player I would choose 10 times out of 10 to go into the biggest game with right by my side, because I know what she’s going to bring: stability, predictability, high character,” said Duggan, now the New Jersey Devils' player development director. “Kelly to me is the type of player that you win championships with, and she's done that multiple times.”

Pannek was a two-way star during her four college seasons at Minnesota, where she won two national titles and finished with 72 goals and 186 points in 157 career games. At the Olympics, she won gold in 2018 and 2026, along with a silver in 2022.

“I’ve changed as a player over these last almost eight years, but also my role has changed,” Pannek said. “I pride myself on being someone who can do any role up and down the lineup.”

Today, her sole focus is on the upcoming playoffs.

“Whatever it takes," Pannek said. “If I have zero points the rest of the playoffs and we win — it’s all about the winning.”

AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey

Minnesota Frost's Kelly Pannek (12) celebrates with teammates after her goal against the Vancouver Goldeneyes during the third period of a PWHL hockey game in Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)