Winter Olympics: Norway win record 15th gold as Johannes Thingnes Bo takes biathlon victory
- Published
Johannes Thingnes Bo wins fourth gold in Beijing and Norway's record-breaking 15th
24th Winter Olympic Games |
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Hosts: Beijing, China Dates: 4-20 February |
Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button and online; listen on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds; live text and highlights on BBC Sport website and mobile app |
Johannes Thingnes Bo steered Norway to Winter Olympic history as they won a record-breaking 15th gold in Beijing.
Bo's victory in the men's mass start biathlon was his fourth gold of the Games, and his fifth medal overall.
His country's tally surpassed the previous best at a Winter Games of 14, first achieved by Canada in 2010.
Norway's Marte Olsbu Roiseland, meanwhile, has become the first person to win a medal in all four individual biathlon events at a Winter Games.
Roiseland took bronze in the women's mass start biathlon, to add to the gold she earned in the sprint and pursuit biathlon events, and bronze in the individual.
The 31-year-old also won gold in the mixed relay, meaning she is the first woman to win five biathlon medals in a single Winter Games.
Justine Braisaz-Bouchet took gold in the women's mass start event, becoming the first Frenchwoman ever to do so.
Tiril Eckhoff, in second, is the first female biathlete to win a mass start medal at three successive Games.
As Bo, 28, took victory in the men's event, he became the third biathlete to win five medals at a single Games after France's Quentin Fillon Maillet, who claimed gold in the individual and pursuit events at Beijing, plus silver in the sprint and both relays, and Roiseland.
Martin Ponsilouma of Sweden took silver with another Norwegian, Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen, winning bronze.
Fillon Maillet finished fourth to narrowly miss out on a historic sixth Olympic biathlon medal.
The athletes had to battle freezing temperatures and high winds throughout both races, with the women's event brought forward 24 hours because of forecast bad weather.
Finland into first ice hockey final in 16 years
Winter Olympics: Finland's men's ice hockey team beat Slovakia 2-0 in semi-final
Finland reached their first men's Olympic ice hockey final in 16 years after a 2-0 victory over Slovakia.
Sakari Manninen scored the opener in the first period for Finland, who have never won the gold medal.
Harri Pesonen scored into an empty net to seal the win late on after Slovakia netminder Patrik Rybar joined their attack in search for an equaliser.
The Finns had beaten Slovakia 6-2 in their tournament opener but this was a much closer affair, with Manninen's opener one of a few scoring chances in the opening period.
The rest of game was then dominated by the two netminders, with Slovakia's Rybar making 25 saves, while Harri Sateri made 28 to earn the shutout for Finland.
While they have never claimed Olympic gold, Finland - the number two-ranked team in the world - have claimed a medal in three of the past four Games, including silver in Turin in 2006.
They will face the Russian Olympic Committee in Sunday's gold medal match after the defending champions squeezed past Sweden on penalties.
Arseni Gritsyuk scored the decisive goal at sudden death in the shootout.
Sweden's Anton Lander had earlier cancelled out Anton Slepyshev's opener midway through the third period, with the sides still unable to be separated after overtime, when ended with the score 1-1.
Canada beat USA to win curling bronze
Canada skip Brad Gushue (right) was part of the Canada team that won gold in the 2006 Games in Turin
Canadawon bronze in the men's curling after a 8-5 victory over the USA, the defending champions.
A tight and tense contest turned in the ninth end when US skip John Shuster gave up a steal of two, which opened up a three-point deficit they were unable to recover from.
Victory avenges Canada's defeat by the US in the semi-finals in Pyeongchang four years ago, which ended the Canadians' run of three successive golds in this event.
The bronze will be Canada's only curling medal at the Beijing Games after their women's and mixed doubles teams did not make the playoffs.
Great Britain, who beat the USA in the semi-final on Thursday, play Sweden in the men's gold medal match on Saturday.
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