2026 Olympics | Biathlon: “I think it was a terrible day for our technicians, even more than for us”, says Tommaso Giacomel
With bib number 6, Italy’s men’s biathlon team was keen to redeem itself in the 2026 Olympic relay on Tuesday, after disappointing individual races. However, “it didn’t go the way we wanted it to”, as Nicola Romanin said after the race.
With a final place of fourteenth, the host country completely underperformed in this race, ending up in the bottom half of the rankings.
It all started with Patrick Braunhofer, the first relay runner, for whom cross-country skiing was very difficult (twentieth and last time). “Let’s just say that today wasn’t my day, either for me or for the equipment. I had no energy left in the last lap. The snow was slow, but that’s no excuse, I wasn’t up to it. I’m sorry,” the man who had the responsibility of starting this relay told La Gazzetta.
In the woods, the German ran over my stick, broke it and made me lose time, because I couldn’t close the gap straight away,” he also explained to Fondo Italia. I struggled to close the gap when I was shooting, but by the last lap I just couldn’t take it any more. I’m disappointed with the stint, because if you get off to such a bad start, it’s hard to get back up. With just one bullet on each shot, he passed the baton to Lukas Hofer in nineteenth position, 1 min 27 behind Norway.
The experienced Italian also had two good shots, but on his skis, things just didn’t want to go his way (fifteenth time in his stint). Today’s race was difficult,” he began for La Gazzetta. We’ll have to analyse everything after the race, once the adrenalin has worn off, draw the conclusions and move on. We’re not giving up, we’ve still got one more race to go.
“It was probably the noisiest day of the year, you couldn’t even hear your own breathing”.Nicola Romanin
1 min 50 behind the race leader, Nicola Romanin knew that the podium was a long way off, but her objective was elsewhere. “My aim was to be there, but also to take part in the relay, which in my opinion is the most beautiful biathlon event because it brings together four athletes who give their all for their country. Unfortunately, things didn’t go according to plan,” he told Fondo Italia. In any case, we all gave it our best shot. As always, the emotion was palpable, but today was without doubt the loudest day – you couldn’t even hear your own breathing any more.”
Despite this, Tommaso Giacomel started the fourth and final stint of the race in fifteenth place, knowing that the die was cast. With one bullet in the prone and three in the standing, the Italian finished the race in fourteenth place, 4 min 28 behind the victorious France.
During the race, I mainly tried not to get overtaken,” said Tommaso Giacomel. So I concentrated on the quality of my shots in the prone. I think it was a terrible day for our technicians, even more so than for us, because I know how hard they work and how difficult their job is. They’ll no doubt be very angry today, but I’m sure they’ll find a solution in the next few days.
He goes on to defend his staff: “They have often helped us by supplying us with excellent skis. Today, they made mistakes, as others have already done. I always hear that the French biathletes are the best and that they always have the best skis, but I remember, for example, a mass-start two years ago when they all missed and it looked like they had sandpaper under their skis. Unfortunately, those are the risks of the job. Ski preparation is much more complex than it seems.
The Italian clan will now try to make up for this setback and focus on the final home race that awaits them this Friday. “In the meantime, my main objective is to recover, because those 7.5km exhausted me more than the other races. I’ve gone way beyond my limits,” confided Nicola Romanin. It’s going to be really exciting, because I’ve never taken part in a mass-start. It’ll be a first for me at the age of 31 and at the Olympic Games!
“It’s going to be a very important race, it’s going to be my race. I want to make the most of it and do my best,” explains Lukas Hofer. We know that the mass-start always has its particularities and, according to the weather forecast, it could be a very interesting race.
