Dahlmeier takes 2nd Oly gold

Fourcade back on top

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea, Feb 12, (AP): It was hard to imagine Martin Fourcade staying down for long.

Sure enough, the world’s most dominant biathlete bounced back with a vengeance Monday to win Olympic gold in the men’s 12.5-kilometer pursuit in dominating fashion. The victory came after an uncharacteristically poor eighthplace performance in the opening sprint race Sunday that left the world’s No. 1 biathlete questioning himself.

It wasn’t until Fourcade saw pictures of himself on the shooting range that he began to understand what went wrong. The red flags on the course that indicate wind were blowing more than he realized.

“At that time I realized it wasn’t because I was unlucky, it was because I did a mistake,” the Frenchman said. and Benedikt Doll of Germany earned bronze.

Fourcade’s return to the medal podium didn’t surprise his competitors.

“I knew that when he finished eighth he would be really fighting for the gold medal,” Samuelsson said. “Martin is just unbelievably good.”

After taking the lead on the third shoot, Fourcade hit his final five shots, turned back to the crowd like a confident showman and pumped his fist, knowing he couldn’t be caught.

Nearly just as dominant, 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 was second and Anais Bescond of France took bronze.

“I don’t know what to say because I felt really, really tired before the race and also during the race in the first laps,” Dahlmeier said. “I just tried to stay focused and now I’m here again.”

Dahlmeier started the race with a 24-second lead over her nearest competitor, but Kuzmina caught her at the midway point before missing two targets on the third shoot to fall 37 seconds behind.

France’s Martin Fourcade competes at the firing range in the men’s 10km sprint biathlon event during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games

on Feb 11, in Pyeongchang. (AFP)