Turin 2006. The men's mass start is Michael Greis the 'man cover the Games

25 February 2006 on the track at Cesana San Sicario biathlon program at the XX Olympic Winter Games ends with the mass start. The first to take to the track are the men, in a race in which the champion looking for redemption will again frustrated their ambitions.

Thursday 25 February 2016 11 minutes reading time

At the start, all eyes are in fact aimed at Ole Einar Bj Ã¸ rndalen and Raphael Poir & eacute; e. The Norwegian gi & agrave; He collected two silvers, but for him it is a disappointing track record and at this point just wants the d & rsquo; gold medal. French rather not & egrave; yet even he got on the individual podium, and & egrave; still hunting the first Olympic success of his career. Since the initial thirty-two meters Scandinavian immediately puts the whip the group, taking solitary head of gi & agrave competition; after the first shooting range, where it covers with rapidity & agrave; all the targets. His contemporary trans instead makes a mistake and goes right into difficulty & agrave ;. Bj Ã¸ rndalen looks like a wounded beast in & rsquo; pride, so much so that after the second shot & ndash; closed course without penalty & agrave; & Ndash; It boasts gi & agrave; something like 20 & rdquo; lead over pi & ugrave opponents; neighbors, aka Michael Greis, Tomasz Sikora and the revived Alexander Wolf, all clean on the pitch. Poir & eacute; and yet another mistake, and ends up in the rear, & nbsp; raising the white flag, cos & igrave; as one Sven Fischer unexpectedly in trouble & agrave; skiing. At the third session of Ole shot misses one target and you see hooked by Sikora, unique among his pursuers not to take l & rsquo; ominous ring. Greis fact must turn once again and in half a minute behind the leading duo, however, being achieved by striking Paavo Puurunen, blatantly in the top positions thanks to a perfect performance right here at the shooting range. In the fourth round the Pole decided to risk it all out, sticking to the Norwegian code to keep his pace. The German can do the same, albeit without a reference point, remaining from the same distance and disconnecting the Finn. We arrive at the decisive polygon and Bj Ã¸ rndalen missing the second target, while Sikora is covering them all. The polish is left with the match point, but can not send a sign right there & rsquo; last shot, a few seconds after the second failure of the Norwegian. Greis has time to cast an eye on the patterns of their opponents to see what & egrave; Success, after which & eacute; do not force the times and absolutely no mistake, returning to the track in 3 & rdquo; 3 from thirty-two of Silesia. Full Puurunen the shoot-out and starts third at 15 & rdquo; from the tread, with a small margin on the furious Bj Ã¸ rndalen. The final lap no surprises. The German skiing has definitely pi & ugrave; and flies to the second medal d & rsquo; individual gold after that gi & agrave; conquered in the 20 km, the third even considering the relay. Results that make l & rsquo; impronosticabile & ldquo; & rdquo cover man; the men's biathlon in Turin in 2006, before which it had obtained a & rsquo; only career win, curiously in 2005 and right on the slopes of Cesana. Sikora, who this season has more & ugrave; sometimes he frequented the top ten without memorize options never set foot on the podium, you can memorize options settle for a stunning and unexpected medal d & rsquo; silver, thanks to which it becomes the first Polish biathlete in history to reach the podium of the Olympic Games. To Bj Ã¸ rndalen not & egrave; however satisfying certain bronze. Sar & agrave; the third individual medal of the event, but none of them & egrave; the pi & ugrave metal; prized. For its part Puurunen can not memorize options to do is sail to a sensational fourth place, good for the annals of discipline and personal glory. Poir & eacute; and goes up the slope in the second half & agrave; competition, but it does not go beyond the twelfth. Fischer instead concludes seventeenth l & rsquo; last race in five circles career. No one can memorize options know, but also the French non garegger & agrave; never again & ugrave; in the Olympic Games. After announcing the & rsquo; intention to continue up to Vancouver 2010, will change & agrave; idea within twelve months and decider & agrave; suddenly to withdraw, on the decision immediately after winning the 'World Championship gold nell''individuale of Anterselva 2007 World Cup. Homemade Italian & egrave; gi & agrave; a success to have qualified three athletes to the mass start. Blue & ndash; Wilfried Pallhuber, Ren & eacute; Laurent Vuillermoz and Christian De Lorenzi & ndash; They remain in the rear, and are all three in a row from the 24th to the 26 th position. The Olympic Games are over, but the fight for the World Cup heats up. On the eve of & rsquo; last part of season four athletes can still aim with credentials to conquer the Crystal Ball. The yellow bib & egrave; worn by Fischer with 488 points, followed by Poir & eacute; and (465), Greis (459) and Bj Ã¸ rndalen (454), back in the running for the ultimate success despite seven races jump between December and January! So the male sector ends with the absolute domination of Germany, who won four gold medals out of 5. In contrast is a sensation see how Norway closes without any success, having collected as many as 6 out of 7 in Nagano in 1998 and Salt Lake City 2002. Following is disputer & agrave; the women's mass start. The next men's race & egrave; instead set for the & rsquo; March 8, when the World Cup ricomincer & agrave; from Pokljuka. POS | ATHLETE | NAT | SHOT | TIME 1 | GREIS Michael | GER | 0 + 0 + 1 + 0 | 47: 20.0 2 | Tomasz Sikora | POL | 0 + 0 + 0 + 1 | +6.3 3 | Ole Einar Bjoerndalen | NOR | 0 + 0 + 1 + 2 | +12.3 4 | Paavo Puurunen | FIN | 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 | +23.7 5 | Sergei TCHEPIKOV | RUS | 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 | +39.1 6 | SVENDSEN Emil Hegle | NOR | 0 + 1 + 0 + 1 | +53.8 7 | Halvard Hanevold | NOR | 1 + 0 + 1 + 1 | +54.9 8 | WOLF Alexander | GER | 0 + 0 + 1 + 1 | +55.3 9 | SUMANN Christoph | AUT | 1 + 0 + 0 + 1 | +57.4 10 | ROESCH Michael | GER | 1 + 0 + 1 + 1 | +59.9 Â Click here for the full results. & Nbsp;

Social media engagement