Norwegian biathlete Bjorndalen wins Winter Olympic record 12th medal, captures gold in Sprint
40-year-old Norwegian biathlon legend Ole Einar Bjorndalen won his Winter Olympic record 12th career medal on Saturday, capturing gold in a young man's event - the 10km sprint.
In what was a disappointing race for many of the sport's elite, the elder statesman overcame a single miss, finishing with a time of 24:33.5, as he added a seventh Olympic gold to his illustrious resume.
IT'S OFFICIAL: Ole Einar Bjoerndalen has tied the all-time Winter #Olympic record for most medals #Sochi2014
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 8, 2014
With another gold medal in Sochi -- a strong possibility as a member of Norway's strong relay teams -- Bjorndalen can match Norwegian cross-country skiing legend Bjorn Daehlie's eight, and stake claim to a share as Winter Olympic history's most decorated.
Winning silver was lesser-known Austrian biathlete Dominik Landertinger, who won his first individual Olympic medal with a time of 24:34.8. He won a relay silver in Vancouver.
Jaroslav Soukup of the Czech Republic captured bronze, besting hometown favorite Anton Shipulin by seven tenths of a second for his first Olympic medal.
France's Martin Fourcade was a heavy favorite coming in, but could not make up enough time to reach the podium after a shooting miss during his first target stop. He will have a second chance to top Bjorndalen in the pursuit, to which he qualified for with a sixth-place finish.
As for Bjorndalen, known as the "Michael Jordan of Biathlon," he won't have to worry about any "Washington years" in this, his Olympic swansong.
Ole, ole, ole, ole.