By MARTHA BELLISLE Associated Press
ANTERSELVA, Italy (AP) — Johannes Dale-Skjevdal of Norway was the only biathlete to hit all 20 of his targets in the 15-kilometer mass start race Friday and skied his way to gold — Norway’s 17th gold medal of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics — breaking the record for the most gold medals won by a nation at a single Winter Olympics.
Norway had set the record at the 2022 Beijing Olympics with 16 gold medals.
Dale-Skjevdal had taken the lead after the first standing bout with clean shooting and completed the five laps on newly packed snow and gusty winds in 39 minutes, 17.1 seconds. His teammate Sturla Holm Laegreid only missed one target and finished 10.5 seconds back for silver — his fifth medal of these Olympic Games.
Philipp Horn of Germany only missed one target on his last shooting bout and left the range in third place, but Quentin Fillon Maillet of France, who missed four on the day, chased Horn and passed him on a big hill, taking him to the finish for a bronze, 25.6 seconds behind Dale-Skjevdal.
Fillon Maillet, who was on the gold medal winning team in the mixed relay and men’s relay, also won gold in the sprint.
Only the top 30 biathletes compete in the mass start race — based on World Cup rankings and Olympic performance. They ski five, 3-kilometer loops, shooting twice in the prone position and twice standing.