Norway's Johannes Dale-Skjevdal shot to Olympic biathlon gold in the men's 15 kilometre mass start on Friday for the biggest success of his career.
He had never taken gold at a major championship before but was perfect on the range to win in 39 minutes 17.1 seconds, 10.5 seconds ahead of compatriot Sturla Holm Lægreid.
Dale-Skjevdal, who has only won three individual World Cup races, said: "It's quite a good ending to my first Olympics, and it is also my first time shooting 20 out of 20. What a day to do it on. It's real, and I can’t find the words, but it's just amazing."
Fellow Norwegian Johan-Olav Botn had previously won the individual race at these Games but was off the pace in eighth on Friday.
Lægreid, celebrating his 29th birthday, sealed a joint-record fifth biathlon medal at one Games - but no gold this time. He made headlines earlier in the Olympics for revealing an affair.
"I've had medals on my birthday before, but not in the Olympics. A special day for sure," he remarked.
France's Quentin Fillon Maillet grabbed bronze despite four misses in a supreme skiing effort to edge out Germany's Philipp Horn.
Horn was the 12th fourth-place finish for Germany at these Games across all sports so far, the most of all teams, German broadcasters ZDF said.
"More the disappointment, because I know it's my last Olympic race. It was the last chance," he said. "It was a fourth place, which is worth nothing at the Olympics."
France had won the mixed relay and men's relay at these Games while Fillon Maillet took sprint gold.
He was bidding to win every possible biathlon gold over two Olympics, but his hopes were all but over after a miss on his first standing shooting followed by three more failures.
Italian Tommaso Giacomel, second in the current World Cup standings, was well-placed on home snow early on but appeared to be suffering a fitness issue and withdrew.
The women's mass start on Saturday wraps up the biathlon action at the 2026 Winter Olympics. France has also won two women's biathlon golds in Anterselva.
