ANTERSELVA, Italy, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- France's Quentin Fillon Maillet won the gold medal in the men's 10km biathlon sprint at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Friday, shooting clean and clocking a total time of 22 minutes 53.1 seconds.
Norway's Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen and Sturla Holm Laegreid finished second and third, respectively.
Fillon Maillet seized the lead at the 2.9km mark before the first prone shooting and remained firmly in control thereafter, encountering little resistance across both shooting stages to secure victory.
The triumph marked the fourth Olympic gold medal of Fillon Maillet's career. He had earlier claimed gold in the mixed 4x6km relay alongside his teammates in the opening biathlon event on February 8.
The battle for silver and bronze was fierce. Christiansen shot clean and took silver, finishing 13.7 seconds behind the winner. Throughout the race, he was locked in a close duel with teammate Laegreid, who likewise hit all targets and secured bronze, 15.9 seconds off the pace.
"It was maybe the toughest race of my life. I heard that on the last 500 meters, it was just one second to silver, or one second to fourth place. I just had to dig really, really deep. Maybe it was the race of my life," Christiansen said.
China's sole entrant in the event, Yan Xingyuan, placed 64th among the 90 participants, recording two misses in the standing shooting and clocking 26:08.8.
"My skiing was a bit better than that in the previous race, but I still had problems in shooting," Yan said. "Prone shooting was normal, but during the standing stage, especially when entering the range under high intensity, I failed to control two shots, which was a pity."
Biathlon continues Saturday with the women's 7.5km sprint. ■
