RUSSIA AT THE OLYMPICS: Biathlon: Russia's unbelieving Ustyugov wins mass start gold

Whistler (AFP) - An unbelieving Evgeny Ustyugov realised a long held dream on Sunday by winning Olympic gold for Russia in the men's 15km mass start biathlon. The 24-year-old's winning time of 35mins 35.7sec was enough to see him home ahead of France's Martin Fourcade and Slovakian Pavol Hurajt by more than 10 seconds, with a flawless display on the shooting range putting him in pole position. "It hasn't sunk in yet. I still don't understand that I've won the gold," said Ustyugov, ranked third in the world. "Honestly, after the last Olympics I wouldn't even have dreamt that I would be here. A gold was in my distant dreams, anything can happen at an Olympics and it happened today." This is the first time France have taken five medals in biathlon at a Winter Olympics and Fourcade was delighted to be the new owner of a silver. "I thought I was out of contention after the first visit (to the shooting range), but everyone seemed to be a little tired," said Fourcade. "I took the opportunity to work my way up, then I realised I was in contention for a medal and I fought as hard as I could. "It's a childhood dream to win a medal and when you realise it is going to happen to you, it feels amazing. I was going for bronze, but realised I had a chance for silver and hung in." Hurajt made a strong start and led after the last two visits to the range, but ended up with bronze at 16.6sec back having hit all 20 targets, only to be overtaken in the last few kilometres. "Of course I felt tired and Evgeny is a better skier than me. I was expecting a challenge from the Austrians and I was surprised that Martin (Fourcade) came through," said Hurajt. Ustyugov was ranked 13th on the first visit to the shooting range, but moved up the field with swift skiing and deadly rifle accuracy to take the lead in the race's closing stages. The Russian passed Hurajt and built himself a sizeable lead in the final kilometres after the fourth visit to the shooting range. Austria finished with three biathletes in the top ten, but there was disappointment for Germany's Michael Greis, who won three gold medals at Turin 2006, who ended 10th after three penalties. Norway's 36-year-old biathlon legend Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, who has won five Winter Olympic golds in his career, came a lowly 27th.

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