Norway takes home 3 biathlon gold from Whistler
Last Updated: Sunday, February 28, 2010 | 3:43 PM ET
By Doug Harrison, CBC Sports
From left, Halvard Hanevold, Emil Hegle Svendsen, Tarjei Boe and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen celebrate Norway's victory in the men's 4x7.5km relay. (Dmitry Lovetsky/Associated Press)While there was no owning the biathlon podium in Vancouver, Norway made another statement as the country to beat at the Winter Olympics.
The Norwegians lost the medal battle to France, 6-5 at Whistler Olympic Park, but three times they stood atop the podium as gold medallists.
Ole Einar Bjoerndalen stood out with silver in the men's 20-kilometre (behind rising Norwegian star Emil Hegle Svendsen) and skied the anchor leg in a gold-medal finish in the 4x7.5km relay.
The 36-year-old legend now has 11 medals at four Olympics and has said he would attempt to break the Winter Games record of 12 — held by cross-country skier Bjorn Daehlie of Norway — in 2014 at Sochi, Russia.
Tora Berger won Norway's other gold medal, collecting the country's 100th gold medal of all time, dominating the women's 15km pursuit with a time of 40 minutes 52.8 seconds.
Germany's Magdalena Neuner was dominant on the women's side, earning three of her country's four medals: gold in the 10km pursuit and 12.5km mass start, along with silver in the 7.5km sprint.
She chose to sit out the 4x6km relay, citing fatigue and stress, to give her teammates a chance to taste success. They went on to place third behind Russia and France.
The Russians repeated as champions in the women's 4x6km relay while Evgeny Ustyugov, who was knocked off the podium in the 20km individual race, breezed to the finish in the 15km mass start.
Canada failed to medal in any of the 10 events, but there were some positives:
- Quebec City's Jean-Philippe Le Guellec set a new Canadian men's standard with a sixth-place finish in the 10km sprint.
- Marc-Andre Bedard of Valcartier, Que., gave the Canadians a short-lived lead entering the prone shooting stage of the second leg in the 4x7.5km relay en route to a 10th-place finish.
Other Canadian biathletes that competed in Whistler include: Robin Clegg (Edmonton), Brendan Green (Hay River, N.W.T.), Megan Imrie (Falcon Lake, Man.), Zina Kocher (Canmore, Alta.), Rosanna Crawford (Canmore) and Megan Tandy (Prince George, B.C.).
Anastazia Kuzmina picked up Slovakia's first gold medal of Vancouver Games, clocking 19 minutes 55.6 seconds in the women's 7.5km sprint. She only missed one of 10 shots at the shooting range.
Full medal results:
- Men's 4x7.5km relay: Norway (gold) Austria (silver), Russia (gold)
- Women's 4x6km relay: Russia (gold), France (silver), Germany (bronze)
- Men's 15km mass start: Evgeny Ustyugov, Russia (gold), Martin Fourcade, France (silver), Pavol Hurajt, Slovakia (bronze)
- Women's 12.5km mass start: Magdalena Neuner, Germany (gold), Olga Zaitseva, Russia (silver), Simone Hauswald, Germany (bronze)
- Men's 20km individual: Emil Hegle Svendsen, Norway (gold), Sergey Novikov, Belarus (silver, tie), Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, Norway (silver, tie)
- Women's 15km individual: Tora Berger, Norway (gold), Elena Khrustaleva, Kazakhstan (silver), Darya Domracheva, Belarus (bronze)
- Men's 12.5km pursuit: Bjorn Ferry, Sweden (gold), Christoph Sumann, Austria (silver), Vincent Jay, France (bronze)
- Women's 10km pursuit: Magdalena Neuner, Germany (gold), Anastazia Kuzmina, Slovakia (silver), Marie Laure Brunet, France (bronze)
- Men's 10km sprint: Vincent Jay, France (gold), Emil Hegle Svendsen, Norway (silver), Jakov Fak, Croatia (bronze)
- Women's 7.5km sprint: Anastazia Kuzmina, Slovakia (gold), Magdalena Neuner, Germany (silver), Marie Dorin, France (bronze)
