Winter Olympics 2018: Laura Dahlmeier wins biathlon 7.5km sprint to claim first Olympic medal

Laura Dahlmeier won five golds and one silver at the 2017 Biathlon World Championships

Laura Dahlmeier has won the women's biathlon 7.5km sprint to claim her first Olympic medal.

The German almost swept the board at last year's Biathlon World Championships, winning five golds and a silver in the 7.5km sprint.

But the 24-year-old went one better in Pyeongchang, winning in a time of 21 minutes 06.2 seconds.

That was 24.2 seconds ahead of Norway's Marte Olsbu, while the Czech Republic's Veronika Vitkova was third.

Anastasiya Kuzmina's bid for a third straight gold was dashed as the Slovakian finished 13th while Ukraine's Vita Semerenko, the 2014 bronze medallist, was 14th.

Czech world champion Gabriela Koukalova had been ruled out of the Olympics through injury.

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Biathlon combines skiing and shooting, and the women's sprint features three laps of the 2.5km course with two shooting rounds - the first prone and the second standing.

Each missed target results in a 150m penalty loop and Dahlmeier was one of only three from a field of 87 that did not miss a single target.

Team GB's Amanda Lightfoot came 67th, improving on her finish of 75th at Sochi 2014.

However, she will hope to do better in the individual event on 14 February having come 32nd in last year's world championships.

Other news headlines on day one

• The South Korean government has launched an investigation into a possible cyber attack during the opening ceremony. What organisers describe as non-critical parts of the internal systems went down 45 minutes before the ceremony began, affecting the phone and internet services, but it did not impact on the ceremony.

• Cases of norovirus have risen to 139 but organisers claim the outbreak is under control.

• Figure skater Yuna Kim, who lit the Olympic cauldron, said it was an "unforgettable experience". Speaking in Korean she revealed she had been nervous because there had only been one rehearsal and she was worried about falling over.

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