• Mlb
Bjoerndalen fails to set Olympic record
By Chris Korman February 13, 2014 11:03 am
By CHRIS STRAUSS
KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia – For the second event in a row, inaccurate shooting proved to be too much for Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen to overcome.
The 40-year-old Norwegian biathlete, who is currently tied for the most medals in winter Olympic history, hit four out of five targets at each of his shooting stops in the men's 20km biathlon, with those four minutes of penalties putting him out of the contention for a record-setting 13th career medal.
Bjoerndalen finished the race in 34th place, 3:50.2 behind gold medal winner Martin Fourcade of France, who missed just one shot during the entire competition. It's Fourcade's second gold of the Games following his victory in the men's 12.5km pursuit on Monday. Erik Lesser of Germany won silver while Evgeniy Garanichev of Russia finished with a final time of 50:06.2 to win bronze.
The top U.S. finisher was Lowell Bailey of Lake Placid, N.Y., who came in eighth in 50:57.4, the best place ever by an American in this event. The previous record was tenth by Jay Hakkinen in 2006.
Tim Burke was 44th with a time of 54:21.2. It's a minimal improvement on his place in the event in Vancouver, where he was 45th. Americans Russell Currier and Leif Nordgren finished 50th and 83rd.