Norway's Marte Olsbu Roeiseland celebrates on the podium after winning gold in the women's 7.5km sprint, at the Beijing Olympics, on Feb. 11.ATHIT PERAWONGMETHA/Reuters
Marte Olsbu Roeiseland of Norway replicated her top form from throughout this season, using fast skiing and composed, deliberate shooting to become the Beijing Olympic biathlon sprint champion Friday.
Roeiseland, the overall World Cup leader and sprint leader, hit all 10 targets and finished the 7.5-kilometre race in 20 minutes, 44.3 seconds.
Sweden’s Elvira Oeberg, in her first Olympics, also shot clean and skied to silver, 30.9 seconds back. Her sister, Hanna, won a gold medal in the 2018 Olympics in the individual race. She finished 19th, 1:34.8 back in the sprint.
Dorothea Wierer of Italy came in 37.2 seconds behind Roeiseland, winning her first individual Olympic medal. She won bronze in the mixed-relay in the 2014 and 2018 Winter Games.
Only one of the four Canadians managed to crack the top-50. Emma Lunder of Vernon, B.C., was 32nd, 2:03.3 back in the sprint.
Calgary’s Megan Bankes came in 77th. Sarah Beaudry of Prince George, B.C., finished in 80th place, one position ahead of Emily Dickson from Burns Lake, B.C.
Temperatures for the sprint race hovered around minus-6 C (21F) – balmy compared with the minus-16 C (3.4F) last weekend. More important for the shooting, there was no wind.
The first five finishers, and 13 total, shot clean.
Roeiseland won the bronze in the individual race earlier in the week behind gold medallist Denise Herrmann of Germany and Anais Chevalier-Bouchet of France.
The Norwegian was also on the gold-medal winning mixed relay team during the opening biathlon race of the 2022 Beijing Olympics. France won silver and the ROC took bronze.
She won silver in the 2018 Winter Games sprint race. Laura Dahlmeier of Germany won gold, but she has since retired.
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