Sweden's Martin Ponsiluoma wins men's biathlon pursuit gold

ANTHOLZ-ANTERSELVA, ITALY - FEBRUARY 15: Gold medalist Martin Ponsiluoma of Team Sweden, Silver medalist Sturla Holm Laegreid of Team Norway and Bronze medalist Emilien Jacquelin of Team France pose for a photo on the podium during the medal ceremony for the Men's Biathlon 12.5km Pursuit on day nine of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Anterselva Biathlon Arena on February 15, 2026 in Antholz-Anterselva, Italy. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

Sweden made their mark with Martin Ponsiluoma winning gold in the men’s 12.5 kilometer biathlon at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on Sunday. Norway’s Strula Holm Laegreid took the silver medal, and France’s Emilien Jacquelin won bronze at the Anterselva Biathlon Arena.  

60 athletes qualified for the pursuit, with the medalists being the challenge for others to best them on the two-kilometer course. Quentin Fillon Maillet led out the two Norwegians, who medaled with him, were the first to leave the line, but without a big margin.

The leaders came into the range, with Jacquelin getting into the mix. Both of them missed once, with the Norwegian’s doing the same. Laegreid fell back in fourth as Ponsiluoma moved into third, with a perfect run of the targets. In the second range visit, Jacquelin went perfect while Fillon Maillet missed two. The Norwegians went clean, following the Frenchman out, while the defending gold medalist fell out of the running for a third consecutive Olympics.

In the third visit, Jacquelin gave himself time to be in it alone and shoot perfectly before Christiansen could fire his first shot. Both he and Laegreid missed one, while Ponsiluoma took over second place, 34 seconds behind the Frenchman. The Norwegians came out third and fourth, with French biathlete Eric Perrot in front of them.

On the course, Christiansen and Laegreid got in front of Perrot, trying to close the gap on the Swede. At the last range visit, Jacquelin was completely alone and shockingly missed twice. Ponsiluoma nailed every target, coming out ahead of the French star by 14 seconds. Christiansen missed another while Laegreid went perfect, leaving the Norwegian alone to go for a medal. Jacquelin somehow got back on the course in third place, but was unable to catch the Norwegian and Swede in front of him.