Oriol Cardona and Ana Alonso win a hard-fought bronze medal in the relay race

BarcelonaFor more than 10 minutes, Oriol Cardona and Ana Alonso didn't know where to hide. They were so exhausted they could barely speak after the demanding Olympic ski mountaineering relay final, in which they had finished third. But the competition judges had penalized one of Alonso's ski changes, a penalty that, in theory, deducted three seconds from their time. If that was the case, they would win the bronze. But there was no official confirmation of a possible appeal from the Americans, who had finished fourth. Or the possibility that the penalty would be for more seconds and leave them off the podium. "Three seconds, it says three seconds!" Alonso shouted when she saw the confirmation on the scoreboard that they had won the bronze. And Oriol Cardona began to cry with emotion. He had made an incredible effort to win his second Olympic medal in three days.

The skier from Banyoles has become one of the names of these Winter Games. After winning the gold medal in the men's ski mountaineering sprint eventCardona added a second medal, a bronze in the mixed relay, partnering with Ana Alonso, who also won a second medal, adding to the bronze she earned on Thursday. It wasn't easy. Cardona flew through the last of the four legs and once again demonstrated his competitive spirit. The Catalan knew there would be a penalty, but not how many seconds it would be. "I was on the verge of the relay and saw that Ana was making the change outside the designated zone. I didn't know how long the penalty would be. I thought it would be much longer, and I went out there trying to give it my all to try and get on the podium," Cardona explained.

And her effort paid off. It also brought joy to Alonso, who finished her last leg very tired and worried due to the penalty. The woman from Granada has been the protagonist of an incredible story of overcoming adversity, since last September she was hit by a car while training on her bicycle in Sierra Nevada and suffered injuries that jeopardized her participation in the Games. The pairs final was between the twelve teams with the highest ranking in the World Cup.

France, far superior

The French pair Thibault Anselmet and Emily Harrop won gold with a commanding lead. Jon Kistler and Marianne Fatton of Switzerland took silver in a separate, much shorter relay race. The relay involves completing a 1,500-meter course with a 150-meter elevation gain twice. The women completed one lap, followed by the men; the women then completed the third lap, and finally the men completed the last. As always, transitions are crucial: those moments when you take off your skis to walk up and down sections of stairs, put your skis back on, and then put on and take off the climbing skins that allow for smoother ascents. If these transitions are made outside of designated areas or the rules are not followed, you can be penalized, as happened to Alonso.

The Andalusian skier was in third place on the first lap, but when it came time to transition and put on the climbing skins, she lost too much time and handed the baton to Cardona in fifth position, while France pulled away in the lead and Switzerland took over. The Catalan skier, with his aggressive style when skiing uphill, managed to finish third halfway through the final. On the third lap, the Swiss skier Fatton consolidated her second position and pulled away from Alonso, who saw that the Italian Alba de Silvestro and the American Anna Gibson were closing in fast. She handed over the final leg in fourth position, at which point she made the mistake that led to the penalty. "I went over the line. These things happen. You come in with a lot of speed and I didn't see it clearly. But luckily, in the end it was only three seconds, so we kept the medal. But it was a tough few moments," she explained. Cardona, therefore, had to give it his all to secure the bronze, as Anselmet and Kistler were too far ahead, battling for gold. And the Banyoles native didn't disappoint, delivering an incredible final surge that saw him overtake the Americans and Italians and secure the medal. Not even the penalty kept them off the podium.

"We went out there to fight for the gold, that's what we wanted. We gave it our all. We've won another medal, which is the first time we've ever won two medals at a Winter Games, so we've made history for our sport, for our country, and we should be incredibly happy," said Alonso. "There are so many people behind these medals, you can't even imagine. People who have been in our lives and are no longer here, people who are here now. Everyone has contributed to us being here today, so thank you all so much," the Banyoles native added.

Two medals to remember

At 31, Cardona has carved his place in Catalan sporting history with these two medals in a discipline with a long tradition in Catalonia, but one that only made its Olympic debut at these Milan-Cortina di Ampezo Games. With these two medals, Oriol Cardona becomes the Catalan-born athlete with the most Winter Olympic medals – previously only Queralt Castellet had won a silver in the halfpipe – surpassed only by the seven medals (six gold) of Martin Fourcade from northern Catalonia in biathlon. Interestingly, in these 2026 Games... Fourcade has received the sixth gold medal of his career, although he has been retired for years. In recent months, the positive doping test of Russian Yevgeny Ustyugov at the 2014 Vancouver Games, where the skier from Ceret won the silver medal, has been confirmed. The IOC wanted to award medals, with a ceremony including the national anthem, to all those athletes who benefited from the sanctions imposed on Russian athletes who had tested positive.