At the end of a spectacular and incredibly exciting final spurt, Simon Schempp went long and crashed into the snow alongside Martin Fourcade. For a few seconds nobody knew who had won gold in the Olympic mass start: The German World Champion? Or is it the dominator of the biathlon scene from France, who fought furiously with his ski pole?
It wasn’t until the finish photo that we were convinced: Gold went to Fourcade, the big favourite – but for the “Silver Arrow” Simon Schempp, the dream of winning the first Olympic single medal came true on Sunday,”I’m megahappy,”he said,”I knew it was damn close. He suspected:”Another five metres more, then I might have grabbed him,” but the teammates still lifted him on their shoulders like a winner.
The 29-year-old had mercilessly rushed the vulnerable appearing persecution Olympic champion in Pyeongchang over the climbs, on the home stretch he pulled even with the last of his strength – at least almost. Fourcade has saved himself and, with four gold and two silver medals, is now the most successful Olympic athlete in his country, together with fencer Lucien Gaudin. The Norwegian Emil Hegle Svendsen finished third ahead of the other Germans Erik Lesser and Benedikt Doll. Sprint Olympic Champion Arnd Peiffer was 13th after 15 km.
The only German medal winner in the mass start was Michael Greis, who had won the 2006 competition at the Olympic premiere in Turin. Although the German men had finished the single in Pyeongchang without a medal, the signs for the race of the 30 best athletes were still good.
There was Peiffer, the surprising gold medallist, and Doll, who also unexpectedly took the chase bronze. As the world champion, Schempp was also allowed to flirt with a medal, and Lesser was the one who had won the only single medal for the German team in Sochi.
Unfortunately, not only Fourcade and Johannes Thingnes Bö (Norway) were among the international competitors. How evenly balanced the men’s scene is is shown by the rarity that in South Korea nine different athletes had previously won the nine medals. For the last single race before the relay competitions, there was a certain amount of excitement.
And there was. Not surprisingly, Fourcade and Bö, who had won 14 out of 15 races in the World Cup together, set the pace in the first lap. The rest of the peloton was able to follow the duo without any problems, however, with gaps formed only at the first shooting. The flawless Doll, Schempp and Lesser left the stadium with the leading group.
In the course of the second round Doll even took the lead, he was ahead of Lesser after a second perfect interlude. Schempp and Peiffer also belonged to the front group, but: Between the first and the 20th century. The second place was only 25 seconds – which corresponds to a penalty round.
They had to shoot Peiffer and Doll after the third shooting, but Lesser and Schempp took on the pursuit of the six-time overall World Cup winner Fourcade. At the last shooting, everyone patted, the decision was made on the dramatic final round.