Norway's Dale-Skjevdal strikes gold in Olympic biathlon mass start

ANTERSELVA, Italy -- Norway's Johannes Dale-Skjevdal claimed gold in the men's 15km mass start at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Friday, hitting all 20 targets to finish in 39 minutes 17.1 seconds.

The 28-year-old had been left out of Norway's mixed relay and men's relay lineups earlier in the Games. On Friday, however, he stood out as the only athlete among the 30-man field to shoot clean, celebrating his fifth career victory and first Olympic title.

His teammate Sturla Holm Laegreid incurred one penalty and took silver, 10.5 seconds behind the winner.

France's Quentin Fillon Maillet, despite four penalties, surged past Germany's Philipp Horn on the final loop to secure bronze, 25.6 seconds off the pace.

Germany once again narrowly missed the podium. Horn, with one penalty, finished fourth, 35.5 seconds behind Dale-Skjevdal, equaling the second-best result of his career. German biathletes have struggled overall at these Games, collecting just one bronze medal in the opening mixed relay, while several athletes finished a close fourth in individual events.

"I feel more disappointed, because I know it was my last Olympic race. It was the last chance," Horn said. "When it will be [the next] World Cup race, I will be really happy about my performance today. I was great on the shooting range. I kept calm and relaxed, and did my job, but on the last loop I was just not strong enough."

"It was a fourth place, which is worth nothing at the Olympics," he admitted.

The women's 12.5km mass start, the final biathlon event of the Games, will take place on Saturday.