Fourcade rebounds with dominant victory
Martin Fourcade, the world’s most dominant biathlete, bounced back with a vengeance on Monday to win Olympic gold in the men’s 12.5-kilometer pursuit in dominating fashion.
The victory came after an uncharacteristically poor eighth-place performance by the Frenchman in the opening sprint race on Sunday, which left the world’s No. 1 biathlete questioning himself.
Fourcade, though, made light work of the 24-second deficit to start the pursuit race by hitting 19 of 20 targets with his rapid-fire shooting and fast skiing, enabling him to win his sixth career Olympic medal and third gold.
Sebastian Samuelsson, a 20-year-old Swede, took home the silver medal and Benedikt Doll of Germany earned bronze.
“I knew that when he finished eighth he would be really fighting for the gold medal,” Samuelsson said. “Martin is just unbelievably good.”
Fourcade’s victory came after Laura Dahlmeier gave Germany its third straight gold medal in the biathlon — and her second overall — in the women’s 10-kilometer pursuit.
Dahlmeier is 2 for 2 in gold medal opportunities at the Pyeongchang Games and is the first woman to win the sprint and the pursuit in the same Olympics since the latter race was added as an event in 2002.
After hitting all 10 targets in the sprint, Dahlmeier was nearly perfect again in her second race, connecting on 19 of 20 shots to cruise to victory by more than 29 seconds. Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia won silver and Anais Bescond of France took bronze. jumping normal hill gold medal.
Lundby, who has won seven of 10 events this season, nailed a jump of 110 meters for 264.6 points to capture Norway’s second gold medal of the games. Katharina Althaus of Germany was second, followed by Sara Takanashi of Japan.
The temperature was 12 degrees at the start of competition at the Alpensia Ski Jumping Center. Athletes were bundled up with blankets while waiting on the steps to take their jumps.
In the third end, Russia’s Anastasia Bryzgalova was strategizing with teammate Aleksandr Krushelnitckii when she suddenly seemed to lose her footing. She recovered, but seconds later went down, landing on her backside.
The Russians’ win earned them the first-ever medal in mixed doubles curling, which is making its Olympic debut. Canada faced Switzerland for the gold.
Kingsbury, a six-time world champion and silver medalist in Sochi four years ago, posted a score of 86.63, the best of any in the three elimination rounds. His victory gives Canada its third straight Olympic gold in the event.
A rare wobble in the 2014 Olympic finals cost Kingsbury the top spot on the podium. There were no mistakes this time. Kingsbury drilled his 250-meter sprint down the series of bumps and jumps. The 25-year-old celebrated with a fist pump following his electric winning run at a frigid Phoenix Snow Park.
Matt Graham of Australia took silver and Daichi Hara of Japan earned bronze, each picking up the first medal of the games for their countries. American Casey Andringa made a surprise run to the finals before winding up fifth.