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)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces struck an industrial site deep inside Russia on Saturday, which Ukraine and unofficial Russian news channels say was a key state-owned missile factory.

The attack in Russia’s Udmurt Republic left 11 people wounded, three of whom were hospitalized, according to a Telegram post by Sergei Bagin, the local health minister.

“One of the republic’s facilities was attacked by drones” launched by Ukraine, regional head Alexander Brechalov said in another Telegram post. He added that the strike caused injuries and damage, but did not identify the site or give further details.

Hours later, Ukraine's General Staff said its forces struck a key missile plant near the city of Votkinsk, using Ukrainian-made FP-5 “Flamingo” cruise missiles rather than drones.

“A military-industrial complex enterprise, the ‘Votkinsk Plant’ ... was hit. A fire was recorded on the facility’s premises. The results are being clarified," the General Staff said in a Facebook post.

An unofficial Russian news channel on Telegram, Astra, likewise said earlier on Saturday that the strike targeted the Votkinsk Machine Building Plant, a major state defense enterprise. Astra said its claim was based on an analysis of footage from residents.

The Votkinsk factory, more than 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) from Ukraine, produces Iskander ballistic missiles, often used in strikes against Ukraine, as well as nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles, missiles for submarines and air-launched Kinzhal missiles.

Another unofficial Russian Telegram channel, SHOT, which often quotes contacts in the security services, said residents of Votkinsk reported hearing at least three blasts during the night, as well as what they thought was the humming of drones.

The Udmurt Republic’s main passenger airport, in the city of Izhevsk, and airports in nearby regions suspended operations early on Saturday, according to Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsiya.

In other overnight attacks, Ukraine's General Staff said its forces had also targeted a gas processing plant in Russia's Samara region. Earlier Saturday, Russian military blogs reported that an attack caused a fire at the Samara plant. There was no immediate comment from Russian officials.

The strike came days after the latest U.S.-brokered talks between envoys from Moscow and Kyiv over Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine ended Wednesday with no sign of a breakthrough, as the war’s fourth anniversary approaches next week.

The negotiations in Switzerland were the third round of direct talks organized by Washington, after meetings earlier this year in Abu Dhabi that officials described as constructive but which also made no major headway. Expectations for significant progress in Geneva were low.

Russia attacked Ukraine with 120 drones and one ballistic missile overnight into Saturday, Ukraine’s air force said. Ukrainian forces shot down 106 drones, while the missile and 13 drones struck targets in 11 locations in the country, the statement said.

Oleh Kiper, the head of Ukraine's Odesa region on the Black Sea, said drones damaged civilian and energy infrastructure facilities in the region, including a secondary school and an energy company's warehouses. Two people were also injured, he said in a statement on Telegram.

The southern port city of Odesa and surrounding region have been frequent targets for Russian attacks. Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said tens of thousands of Odesa's residents were left without heating and running water.

In remarks published on social media on Monday evening, Zelenskyy said Moscow should be “held accountable” for the relentless strikes, which he said undermine the U.S. push for peace.

Elsewhere, Russia’s Federal Security Service, known by its acronym FSB, claimed that Ukraine has been able to harvest data from Telegram and use it for military purposes. The app is hugely popular among Russians, including soldiers at the front.

The FSB was quoted by Russian state media as saying it had obtained “numerous reliable reports” that the use of Telegram “has repeatedly resulted in threats to the life of service members over the past three months." The reports did not cite any examples or evidence.

Separately, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed a law requiring mobile operators in Russia to block cellular and landline internet services at the request of the FSB, the latest move in the ongoing Kremlin effort to tighten control over the internet.

Earlier this month, Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor said it will impose new restrictions on Telegram, after accusing it of refusing to observe Russian law. The move triggered widespread criticism from Russian military bloggers, who warned that Telegram was widely used by troops fighting in Ukraine and its throttling would derail military communications.

Last week, Russia attempted to fully block WhatsApp in the country, the company said. Russian authorities have already blocked major social media like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, throttled YouTube, and methodically ramped up restrictions against other popular platforms since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

In this photo provided by Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade press service, a local passes by a destroyed apartment building following an Russian air strike in the town of Komyshuvakha in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade via AP)