Fourcade wins gold by narrowest of margins

Martin Fourcade slammed his ski pole into the snow in disgust after sliding through the finish line, thinking he had just lost another Olympic biathlon gold medal to a photo finish.

But upon further review, replays showed the Frenchman’s left boot crossed the line just a few centimeters ahead of Germany’s Simon Schempp, giving Fourcade a dramatic victory in the 15-kilometer mass start and his second gold medal of the Pyeongchang Games.

It was a sweet win for Fourcade, who had taken silver in this same event the previous two Olympics, including after a photo-finish loss to Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway in the 2014 Sochi Games.

“I thought it was history repeating,” Fourcade said.

Fourcade was caught by Schempp over the frantic final 100 meters and the two skiers came to the line neck-and-neck. Fourcade, the world’s No. 1 biathlete, reached out his left foot ahead of Schempp as both skiers slid through the finish amid a roaring crowd.

Fourcade said he was thinking about his narrow loss to Svendsen the entire last loop and was determined not to let it happen again. Still, Schempp pushed him all the way

“When I saw the line, I had a deep feeling that I’d lost,” Fourcade said. “... I’m still waiting for them to tell me that I’m not the winner. For now it’s not real yet. I’m just waiting to be back in my (hotel) room, open my phone and see that it’s real.”

It was Fourcade’s fourth career gold medal, tying him for the most gold medals by a Frenchman. Schempp took the silver and Svendsen the bronze.

With two pairs to go, Kodaira could watch knowing that two-time defending champion Lee Sang-hwa was unlikely to catch her despite the loud cheers of the Korean fans. Lee clocked 37.33 to earn silver, and Karolina Erbanova of the Czech Republic took bronze in 37.34.

Kodaira came into the Olympics as the reigning world champion and the dominant sprinter on the World Cup circuit, where she has won 15 straight races dating to 2016. Her time was an Olympic record, bettering the mark of 37.28 set by Lee four years ago in Sochi.

American Brittany Bowe finished fifth in 37.530, and teammate Heather Bergsma was 11th in 38.13. last jump to give his country its first medal in Pyeongchang. He also became the first Ukrainian man to medal in the Winter Games. The only other Winter golds won by Ukraine were by women’s figure skater Oksana Baiul (1994) and the women’s biathlon relay (2014).

lia Burov, an Olympic athlete from Russia, earned bronze.