The men’s 10km biathlon saw a chance in guard as new blood
took precedence at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Germany’s Arnd
Peiffer achieved the gold medal Alpensia Biathlon Centre Sunday night. Czech
Republic’s Michal
Krcmar won silver and Italy’s Dominik
Windisch taking the bronze.
With Norwegian superstar, Ole Einar Bjorndalen not selected
to compete in any events for the first time in a long time, the opportunity
opened up for many who sought their first gold medal in the sport. 2014 silver
medalist Dominik Landertinger of Austria had a shot at repeating or bettering
by starting 50th where he would have to beat that of Norway’s Emil
Hegle Svendsen who carried Bjorndalen’s legendary force in Norwegian Biathlon.
Though he finished ninth at Sochi, he along with Czech athlete
Ondrej Moravec and French star Martin Fourcade starting 11th and 54th
respectively. 2017 world champion Benedikt Doll of Germany would try to set a
mark high as well hoping to continue his winning ways of recent. In his last Olympics,
American Lowell Bailey who won gold at the world championships as well would
try to shock the big competitors and bring home Team USA’s second medal of the
games. The wind was very heavy at 5mph before starting the first of three laps
going 3.3 kilometers with temperatures in the low teens.
Timofei Lapshin earned the honor of starting the event for
Korea before Belorussian Krasmir Anev joined him on the course. Doll came out
in sixth making it to the first shooting range in to score five of five
finishing the lap at 8:00.1. Lapshin kept Korea’s spirit high with a clean
round of shooting to start things off. Svendsen had an early miss in his first time
at the range costing his time.
Norway as a whole suffered greatly with Johannes Thingnes Boe
missing three times. The only member to come out clear in the first round was
Erlend Bjoentegaard but it would difficult for him to carry the pressure. Fourcade
came into the range a minute ahead of the lead’s first lap but missed three
times that changed the complexion of the event entirely. Bailey went clean through
the first range putting up a great time like many others
Lapshin’s second time at the range saw him miss once along
with Doll who completed his time at the range. Svendsen tried to make up for
the first time but missed again taking his chances away. Boe missed one during
his second position that made up for some of his loss. Bjoentegaard returned at
the range but suffered like that of his teammates missing twice that took the
entire team out of contention for a medal. The French star came back for his second
round and went perfectly to keep him alive as the only favorite left. Bailey’s
last stop at the range saw him miss once but behind of the lead time.
Lapshin came to the finish line at 24:22.6 that set the bar
for others to beat or fall under. Austrian Julian Eberhard came in 34 seconds
faster to lead for a time with Doll finishing nine seconds slower than
Erberhard taking him out of the chance for a medal. Peiffer took the top spot
at 23:38.8 that was eight seconds better than the leading Austrian having not
missed a single target. Bjoentegaard had the best finish of his teammates but
it wouldn’t hold him in third very long.
Krcmar also went clean in both positions to finish 4.4 seconds
behind the German in second. Fourcade’s final lap was always well behind that
of Peiffer and finished out of the top five. Bailey was worse off than the
Frenchman completing the event 1:15 behind to complete his career in Olympic
biathlon.
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