OSTERSUND, Sweden — Team USA’s biathlon mixed relay squad delivered a thrilling performance under the lights at the IBU World Cup season opener in Ostersund, Sweden, Sunday, securing sixth place overall. The team, which featured men’s racers Maxime Germain and Campbell Wright, alongside women’s competitors Chloe Levins and Deedra Irwin, earned the best-ever finish for Team USA in the mixed relay discipline.

“Today, Maxime and Campbell had near-perfect legs and they handed me and Chloe such an awesome leg lead and we just had to hold it together,” Irwin said. “I think we were able to do a pretty good job today of showing that even with a few mistakes, Team USA is a team to watch out for right now.”

Germain set the tone out of the gate, charging to the front of the pack and cleaning his prone stage to stay firmly in the mix. Despite needing all three spares in standing, he held on with the third-fastest course time of the leg and handed off to Wright in a strong position.

Wright wasted no time. Skiing with trademark power, he clocked the fastest course time of his leg. After using two spares in prone, he cleaned his standing stage to send Levins out in the lead at exchange two. Levins rose to the moment with remarkable composure, avoiding the penalty loop and using just two spares in each stage before tagging off to Irwin in fifth.

Irwin attacked the anchor leg with confidence, cleaning her prone stage in a rapid 23.5 seconds. She stayed steady on the final shooting, using all three spares to keep Team USA clear of the penalty loop. Her last lap became a test of grit as she emptied the tank and fought to hold off Sweden’s Hanna Oberg to deliver the sixth-place finish.

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Men’s races

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In the biathlon season’s first men’s 4×7.5K relay on Saturday, Team USA raced to an impressive fifth-place finish, just 1:25 behind the winning Norwegian squad.

“It was good, solid biathlon,” Wright said.

France claimed second, while Sweden thrilled the home crowd with a third-place podium. This result is the best for the U.S. men since their fourth-place finish at the 2024 Soldier Hollow World Cup.

Paul Schommer opened the race under brutally difficult wind conditions, some of the toughest of his career. Even so, he knocked down his five prone targets using two spare rounds. The swirling wind proved unforgiving in standing, sending him for two penalty loops.

Germain steadied the ship in the second leg. With the wind easing, he avoided the penalty loop, hitting all 10 targets with the use of two spares in prone and three in standing to keep the team in the mix.

Wright then delivered the fastest ski time of his leg, using just two prone spares and one in standing to push the U.S. back into podium contention before handing off to anchor Sean Doherty. Unfazed by the pressure, Doherty cleaned his prone stage and needed only one spare in standing to lock in a top-five finish for Team USA.

Earlier in the day, the women’s relay team of Levins, Irwin, Lucinda Anderson and Margie Freed opened the 2025-26 season with a solid 16th-place relay, laying down a strong base to build on in the months ahead.

The IBU World Cup, in Ostersund, Sweden, took a one-day break before resuming with the women’s 15K individual race today at 9:30 a.m. Racing can be live-streamed on Eurovision Sports or followed on the IBU App.