U.S. Men Fifth in Final Men’s Relay

The U.S. men’s quartet of Sean Doherty (Conway, NH/Army World Class Athlete Program), Maxime Germain (Chamonix-Mont Blanc, FRA/National Guard Biathlon), Paul Schommer (Appleton, WI/Team Birkie/Ariens Nordic Center), and Campbell Wright (Wanaka, NZL/Waiorau Nordic Skiing) combined for a strong fifth place finish to close out the men’s relay competitions of the 2025-26 season. The U.S. team crossed the line +1:23.1 behind a dominant Norwegian squad that claimed the victory, while France finished second and Sweden fought their way back onto the podium in third.

Doherty opened the race for the U.S., shooting clean in prone and using just two spare rounds in standing before tagging off to Germain in 16th place. Germain delivered a powerful leg, posting the third-fastest course time of the field on his leg. After cleaning prone and using just one spare in standing, he moved the U.S. up to sixth at the second exchange.

Schommer took over +14.9 seconds behind the leader and kept the team firmly in podium contention. With one spare needed in prone and a clean standing stage, he maintained strong momentum before handing off to Wright in fifth place. Wright quickly moved the U.S. into third after a clean prone stage and the fastest course time on both the first and second laps of his leg. Heading into the final standing stage still in third, an unfortunate penalty loop dropped the team behind Finland and Sweden into fifth place, where Wright ultimately brought the team to the finish.

The result secured the United States as the fifth-ranked men’s relay team for the season, an impressive seven-place jump from 12th in last year’s discipline standings. The ranking reflects a consistently strong relay campaign that included finishes of fourth in Hochfilzen, fifth in Oestersund, seventh in Oberhof, eighth in Ruhpolding, and fifth today in Kontiolahti. Although Olympic races do not count toward World Cup points, the same quartet also delivered a historic fifth place finish in the men’s relay at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games, the best Olympic relay result in U.S. biathlon history.