Norway wins its 17th gold medal, breaking record for most golds won in a single Winter Olympics

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ANTERSELVA, Italy (AP) — Johannes Dale-Skjevdal of Norway was the only biathlete to hit all 20 of his targets in the 15-kilometer mass start race Friday and skied his way to gold — Norway's 17th gold medal of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics — breaking the record for the most gold medals won by a nation at a single Winter Olympics.

Norway had set the record at the 2022 Beijing Olympics with 16 gold medals.

“It’s quite a good ending to my first Olympics, and it is also my first time shooting 20 out of 20," Dale-Skjevdal said. "What a day to do it on. It’s real, and I can’t find the words, but it’s just amazing, of course.”

Dale-Skjevdal had taken the lead after the first standing bout with clean shooting and completed the five laps on newly packed snow and gusty winds in 39 minutes, 17.1 seconds. His teammate Sturla Holm Laegreid only missed one target and finished 10.5 seconds back for silver. It was his fifth medal of these Olympic Games: three silver and two bronze.

“After the third shooting, I was really hoping for something special, because then I got quite a solid gap, and then I knew that on my last shooting I would be alone on the range," Dale-Skjevdal said. “It was a situation that you dream of: coming alone on to the range, shooting in Antholz, in the Olympics, in my favorite discipline in mass start. I’m so happy.”

Laegreid, who turned 29 on Friday, said it was a special day.

“It was a tough race," he said. "The snow is very slow. The conditions on the range are windy, so it was like a race I had to fight for. Today I was in fighter mode, so it suited me well.”

Philipp Horn of Germany only missed one target on his last shooting bout and left the range in third place, but Quentin Fillon Maillet of France, who missed four on the day, chased Horn and passed him on a big hill, and took the bronze, 25.6 seconds behind Dale-Skjevdal.

Fillon Maillet said he felt strong on the skiing and was excited to win his ninth Olympic medal.

“I didn’t feel pain in my legs, so I could push hard," he said. "I wasn’t so good on the shooting range, but you know, never mind. It’s still a medal, and with these Olympics it makes it nine in total right now. That’s incredible.”

Horn said it was a huge disappointment.

“I was great on the shooting range,” he said. "I kept calm and relaxed, and did my job, but on the last loop I was just not strong enough. It was a fourth place, which is worth nothing at the Olympics.”

Fillon Maillet, who was on the gold medal winning team in the mixed relay and men's relay, also won gold in the sprint.

Campbell Wright, America's last hope for its first Olympic medal in biathlon, struggled on the shooting range. He missed seven out of 20 and finished in last place.

Italy's Tommaso Giacomel, who sits second in overall World Cup standings, cleaned all 10 of his prone shots, and was leading the race, but dropped out of the race on the third lap. A message sent out by the Italian biathlon federation said he retired due to a “sudden pain in his side which affected his breathing.”

Only the top 30 biathletes compete in the mass start race — based on World Cup rankings and Olympic performance. They ski five, 3-kilometer loops, shooting twice in the prone position and twice standing.

The women's 12.5-kilometer mass start is scheduled for Saturday — the final day of the Olympic biathlon competition.

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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics