Johannes Dale-Skjevdal of Norway shot 20 for 20 and cruised to gold in the men’s 15km mass start on Friday in the final men’s biathlon event at the Milan Cortina Winter Games.
Norway’s Sturla Holm Laegreid scored his fifth medal of these games with silver. With his bronze, Quentin Fillon Maillet became the most decorated French Olympian of all time with nine career Olympic medals.
"It was a situation that you dream of: coming alone on to the range, shooting in Antholz, in the Olympics, in my favorite discipline in mass start. I'm so happy," Dale-Skjevdal said after the race.
Emilien Jacquelin of France initially led the field but fell off after skiing too hard at the start of the race and paying for it later. When he shot in prone, he lost his 20-second lead to a missed shot and penalty loop.
Norway's Laegreid and Italy's Tommaso Giacomel chased down the lead lost by Jacquelin. Giacomel was looking to capture a medal for the host country, but he was forced to withdraw midway through the race. Giacomel struggled to breathe and felt horrible after the second prone shooting, he wrote on social media after the race.
"Absolutely not the end of the Games I was hoping for but I will never give up," he said. "Four years fly by fast and I will try again in France."
The Norwegians — Laegreid, Dale-Skjevdal, and Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen — then formed a train at the front, all one second away from each other.
With a strong skiing speed from the top of the field, it all came down to the shooting range, where gusty wind and snowy conditions made shooting difficult. After shooting in the standing position, Dale-Skjevdal was able to pull out front, followed by Laegreid and Philipp Horn of Germany.
Horn had medal hopes, but Maillet did everything he could to close the gap, and Horn had expended his energy earlier in the race. For Maillet, it was the ultimate comeback from four penalty loops to overcome Horn and chase down bronze.
"Quentin Fillon Maillet is just another level right now," Horn said. "He passed me so easily, and I was fighting for my life. It was just impressive how he opened the gap and skied away."
Dale-Skjevdal skied to gold with a substantial lead, and Laegreid earned silver on his 29th birthday, 10.5 seconds behind.
In the mass start race, the biathletes ski five laps of a 3km loop for a total of 15km (9.3 miles), shooting in prone twice and standing twice. A missed shot results in a 150m penalty loop.
Norway and France have dominated the race at the Olympics. France's Martin Fourcade of France, who also won gold in 2018, last week received a reallocated gold medal from Vancouver 2010. Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen captured gold in 2014, and countryman Johannes Thingnes Boe won gold at Beijing 2022 before retiring at the end of last season.
The only American competing, Campbell Wright, finished 29th. He started the race strong but unable keep pace with the top of the field during the skiing portion. The U.S. had hoped to bring home the country's first-ever biathlon medal at the Milan Cortina Games.