ANTERSELVA, Italy — Norwegian biathlete Strula Holm Laegreid won his second bronze medal of the Milan Cortina Olympics on Friday — three days after making an unexpected personal confession during a post-race interview.
Laegreid, who also won bronze in the 20-kilometer individual race on Tuesday, tearfully revealed during a live broadcast that he had been unfaithful to his girlfriend and hoped to win her back.
Putting those personal issues aside for Friday’s sprint race, Laegreid skied and shot his way onto another Olympic podium, finishing behind gold medalist Quentin Fillon Maillet of France and silver medalist Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen of Norway.
“I tried to do biathlon and I just focus on the right thing at the right time,” Laegreid replied when asked how he has handled the fallout from his revelations. “Focus on the skiing and the course. Focus on the shooting in the range and it paid off.”
Fillon Maillet, who earned his fourth Olympic gold medal and second of the Milan Cortina Games after being part of the winning French team in the mixed relay, also had some personal news to share.
“I want to dedicate my race today to my girlfriend because we are expecting a baby,” he said, “and she has supported me for many years and helped me be here today.”
Christiansen, who finished 13.7 seconds behind Fillon Maillet's winning time of 22 minutes, 53.1 seconds, earned his third Olympic medal after winning gold and bronze at the 2022 Beijing Games.
“It was maybe the toughest race of my life,” Christiansen said. “I knew I was in really good shape and when you are in good shape you can push for those extra seconds. I didn’t know it was that tight at the end, but I heard that on the last 500 meters it was just one second to silver, or one second to fourth place.
“Maybe it was the race of my life,” he added.
Laegreid ended up 2.2 seconds behind Christiansen and 15.9 behind Fillon Maillet.
“I never gave up and I was rewarded with the bronze,” the Norwegian said.
Laegreid's tearful confession on Tuesday after the 20-kilometer individual event was criticized by some who said it took the focus away from teammate Johan-Olav Botn, who won the gold medal in that race.
"I deeply regret sharing this personal story on what was a day of celebration for Norwegian biathlon," Laegreid said in a statement issued by the Norwegian team on Wednesday.
None of the top five finishers missed a target, making it a ski race that came down to seconds. Fifth-place finisher Sabastian Samuelsson of Sweden was only 25 seconds behind Fillon Maillet.
Botn missed one shot and was eighth.
The U.S. had high hopes that Campbell Wright would secure the country's first Olympic medal in biathlon, but one missed target set him back and he finished in 12th place, 1:10 behind the winner. Wright, a rising star and dual citizen from New Zealand, was favored after winning silver medals in the sprint and pursuit at last year's world championships.
Wright finished 27th in Tuesday’s race.
“The individual was a bit brutal with the cards we were dealt. I don’t think we had the best skis,” Wright said. “But today our skis were more competitive and me not being on the podium was my own fault. So that’s a better feeling.”
The sprint race is the shortest biathlon discipline. Racers head out at 30-second intervals and ski three, 3.3-kilometer loops, shooting once in the prone position and once standing. Biathletes must ski a 150-meter penalty lap for each miss.
Only the top 60 biathletes finishing the sprint race can participate in the pursuit race, which takes place on Sunday. Time gaps are critical in the sprint, because racers in the pursuit go out in the seconds-back order based on their sprint finish.
The women will race the sprint on Saturday.
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