For entry into the ski mountaineering Olympics, Emily Harrop and Thibault Anselmet brought France two new medals on Thursday February 19 in Bormio. By winning silver and bronze respectively, they bring the number of French medals at the 2026 Winter Games to 19.
Published on: 02/19/2026 - 3:33 p.m. Modified on: 02/19/2026 - 5:19 p.m.
Emily Harrop and Thibault Anselmet celebrated the entry of ski mountaineering onto the Olympic menu on Thursday by winning silver and bronze respectively, bringing to 19 the number of medals for the French delegation at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
The Frenchman Thibault Anselmet won the bronze medal on Thursday February 19 in Bormio where the Spaniard Oriol Cardonna Coll became the first Olympic champion in the history of this sport newly introduced to the Olympic Games. The Russian Nikita Filippov, second, became the first athlete to compete under a neutral banner to win a medal during the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan Cortina.
Emily Harrop, big favorite among the women, won a bitter-tasting silver medal a few minutes earlier.
Emily Harrop, world number 1, was surprised, like last year at the Worlds, by the Swiss Marianne Fatton, while the Spaniard Ana Alonso Rodriguez won bronze.
She will, just like Anselmet, have the opportunity to win a second medal on Saturday during the mixed relay event where the French will this time want to win gold.
Disappointment for Emily Harrop
Thursday in a snowstorm, Harrop was in the lead for a long time ahead of Fatton and the other Margot Ravinel, ultimately 6th, before missing his transition at the top of the stairs and falling behind.
“Obviously, I had better ambitions,” said the 28-year-old Savoyard. “I think that when you dare to be ambitious, inevitably behind, the slightest mistake, you can fall from a height.”
Thibault Anselmet experienced the opposite scenario, trailing in the last places before managing a superb comeback to snatch bronze.
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Her disappointment will be less significant than that of Emily Harrop given the scenario but also because the Catalan Oriol Cardonna Coll, advised by the legend Kilian Jornet, was clearly superior on Thursday.
Marianne Fatton and Oriol Cardonna Coll are the first Olympic champions in the history of ski mountaineering, the competitive version of ski touring.
Its introduction to the Olympics, announced in 2021, did not happen without uproar because of the chosen format – the sprint – criticized by athletes like Kilian Jornet.
The sprint lasts only three minutes with three phases of ascent (skis on, skis carried and skis on again) and a descent, while the historic discipline – the individual – lasts hours with several off-piste climbs and descents.
With AFP
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