Germany’s Dahlmeier, France’s Fourcade win gold in biathlon at Winter Games

Feb. 12 (UPI) — French skier Martin Fourcade and Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier each won gold medals in biathlon events Monday at the Winter Olympics.

Dahlmeier claimed her gold medal with a time of 30:35.3 in the women’s 10km pursuit. Slovakian Anastasia Kuzmina won the silver medal, coming in 29.4 seconds behind Dahlmeier. France’s Anais Bescond won the bronze medal in the event.

Dahlmeier is the first athlete at the Games to win two medals.

Fourcade topped the podium with a time of 32:51.7 in the men’s 12.5km pursuit. Sweden’s Sebastian Samuelsson won a silver medal in the event. Germany’s Benedikt Doll won a bronze medal, finishing 15.1 seconds behind Fourcade.

Fourcade is the first biathlete ever to successfully defend a gold medal in the pursuit. The event was introduced at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. Fourcade now has three career gold medals and five total medals. He won gold at the 12.5km pursuit and the 20km individual at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

The French athlete finished in eighth place in the men’s 10km sprint after missing three shots. He missed only once in Monday’s victory.

Biathlon action returns at 6:05 a.m. Wednesday with the women’s 15km individual event.