Spain has rounded off its most successful Winter Olympic Games with an unprecedented haul of three medals, capped by a dramatic bronze in the inaugural ski mountaineering (SkiMo) mixed relay on Saturday at the Milano Cortina 2026 Games.
The result marked Spain’s best performance at a Winter Olympics in decades, securing three medals and taking its overall Winter Olympic medal tally to eight, across all Games since 1936 — largely by the breakthrough debut of ski mountaineering on the Olympic stage.
On Saturday, Ana Alonso Rodríguez and Oriol Cardona Coll claimed bronze in the mixed relay event, which pairs one woman and one man from each nation, with both athletes completing two demanding laps apiece. The Spanish duo finished behind France’s Emily Harrop and Thibault Anselmet, who took gold, and Switzerland’s Marianne Fatton and Jon Kistler in silver.
Racing in tough conditions in Bormio near the Stelvio – with hard-packed snow and sub-zero temperatures – Alonso started strongly in the opening leg. Wearing bib number one as the world ranking leader, she remained in contention through the early climbs and transitions before handing over to Cardona in third place.
Cardona, already Olympic champion in the men’s sprint earlier in the week, narrowed the gap to Switzerland on the ascents but was unable to reel in the French team, who controlled the race from the front.
In the closing stages, Alonso briefly challenged for silver before being caught by rivals from the United States and Italy. Tension mounted when officials launched a review after Alonso completed a transition outside the designated zone during her penultimate leg. A three-second penalty was later confirmed, briefly throwing Spain’s podium place into doubt.
Cardona responded emphatically in the final leg, overtaking Cameron Smith of the United States and Italy’s Michele Boscacci to reclaim third place. He crossed the line exhausted and collapsed onto the snow as Alonso joined him, both waiting anxiously for the final decision. After the review, the bronze stood — sealing a landmark moment for Spanish winter sport.
For Alonso Rodríguez, the medal completed a remarkable personal story. Just four months earlier, the 31-year-old had been hit by a car while training on her bicycle, tearing her ACL and injuring her shoulder. Despite the injuries, she opted against surgery in order to preserve her Olympic chances – a gamble that has earned her comparisons to ‘the Lindsey Vonn of SkiMo’.
It was a decision that paid off. Alonso Rodríguez had already won bronze in the women’s sprint earlier in the week, making her one of only nine Olympic medallists the sport has produced so far.
‘I made a very risky decision, which was not to have surgery on my knee or shoulder, and many people thought I was crazy, but in the end it wasn’t so crazy, and I won as many medals as I thought I could,’ she said after Saturday’s race.
‘I feel very proud that I didn’t give up and gave it my all until the end and believed in myself so much because it was very difficult,’ she added. ‘I think I’ve managed to find a strength that even I didn’t know I had.’
Spain’s medal run began earlier in the week with a historic gold from Cardona Coll in the men’s ski mountaineering sprint — the first time the sport has been included in the Winter Olympics. Racing in heavy snowfall in Bormio, the Catalan skier dominated the final, breaking away from the chasing pack after the first climb.
Russian Nikita Filippov, competing as an individual neutral athlete, took silver, while France’s Thibault Anselmet claimed bronze.
Cardona’s victory was Spain’s first Winter Olympic gold since 1972, when Francisco Fernández Ochoa won slalom gold in Sapporo, Japan. Shortly before Cardona’s triumph, Alonso Rodríguez had secured bronze in the women’s sprint, setting the stage for Saturday’s relay success.
Together, the performances of Cardona and Alonso Rodríguez have rewritten Spain’s Winter Olympic history — delivering its strongest Games yet and announcing ski mountaineering as a new arena of Spanish sporting excellence.
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🥉📈 #Audiències | 21/02/2026
— RTVE Catalunya (@RTVECatalunya) February 22, 2026
La medalla de bronze d’Oriol Cardona i Ana Alonso en skimo va fer un 8,5% de quota a La 2 Cat i 63.000 espectadors.
🔥 Minut d’or a les 13:56: 15,8% i 116.000 espectadors.
🙏 Gràcies per viure aquesta fita olímpica amb nosaltres!#La2Cat… pic.twitter.com/CZKpFzw0XQ
𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐀 𝐃𝐄𝐋 𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐄 𝐎𝐋𝐈́𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐂𝐎 𝐄𝐒𝐏𝐀𝐍̃𝐎𝐋
— Teledeporte (@teledeporte) February 21, 2026
🥉 ¡Ana Alonso y Oriol Cardona logran la medalla de bronce en el relexo mixto!
Son los dos primeros deportistas españoles que logran dos metales en los #JJOOInviernoRTVE. #MilanoCortina2026 pic.twitter.com/bvYNCjD0q8
¡Día histórico en los Juegos Olímpicos de Invierno en #MilanoCortina2026!
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) February 19, 2026
🥇🥉La medalla de oro de Oriol Cardona y la de bronce de Ana Alonso son toda una proeza para el deporte español.
¡Enhorabuena! Sois un orgullo para todo el país. https://t.co/0UhmvJlTiH
Spain’s Ana Alonso Rodriguez is going home with two bronze Olympic medals just four months after being hit by a car and tearing her ACL. https://t.co/Dg7MYec15w https://t.co/Dg7MYec15w
— Reuters Sports (@ReutersSports) February 21, 2026
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