15 kilometres Mass Start, Men

Contested by only the top thirty finishers in the pursuit the 15 km event is the only one at the Winter Games where all competitors start at the same time. A pack of over twenty athletes arrived at the range for the first shoot of the race and when the firing was done it was Simon Eder of Austria who was the early leader. He kept his lead until halfway but two targets missed at each of the third and fourth shooting phases saw him drop off the pace and eventually finish 25th. The lead was then taken over by the unlikely figure of Pavol Hurajt, a Slovakian who had competed at the top level for a decade but whose only previous podium finishes at World Cup level had come six years earlier. With a flawless shooting display Hurajt was the leader from around the half way stage and maintained that lead until after the final shooting phase. However Russia’s Yevgeny Ustyugov, following a slow start, had worked his way up the field with a perfect shooting display. He passed Hurajt after the final round of shooting and built up a considerable lead to win the gold medal in a time of 35:35.7. Following a poor start, Martin Fourcade of France, moved up from 28th after the first round of shooting, where he missed two targets, to pass Hurajt close to the finishing line and win the silver medal, 10.5 seconds behind Ustyugov. Hurajt held on to take the bronze medal 16.6 seconds behind Ustyugov, but well ahead of the 4th place finisher.

Bjorn Ferry’s attempt to add the 15 km event to his victory in the pursuit floundered, when in a strong third place, at the final phase of shooting whilst Ole Einar Bjørndalen’s attempt to win a 10th Olympic medal was ruined when he missed 7 out of the 20 targets.