Mass Start (15 kilometres), Men

The biathlon competitions at the Beijing Winter Olympics ended with the men’s mass start at a temperature of -17.4 degrees. Just two hours after the women’s event, Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø dominated the race and won gold in 38:14.4 ahead of Sweden’s Martin Ponsiluoma (+40.3 seconds). Bronze went to Bø’s team-mate Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen (+1:12.5) in extremely difficult wind conditions. Bø became the first Norwegian athlete to claim five medals at a single Olympic Winter Games.

Bø was leading the pack from the second shooting. Although the eventual silver medallist Ponsiluoma only had to go two penalty loops, he lost to Bø with a significantly slower skiing time. Christiansen came from behind and entered the medal ranks thanks to a flawless last shooting.

Quentin Fillon Maillet was in reach of a medal thanks to his excellent skiing performance, but was blown away by sudden gusts of wind resulting in three penalty loops. The same happened to Benedikt Doll, Sebastian Samuelsson, and Christian Gow when the wind picked up again and all three dropped out of the top six.

Bronze medallist Christiansen won his first ever individual medal at the Winter Olympic Games or World Championships, having previously won gold in the relay at Beijing and three gold and one silver in relays at World Championships. With Bø and Christiansen, Norway repeated the women’s achievement with two athletes on the podium. It was the first time ever in this event that two athletes from one NOC had entered the podium.