Krasnaya Polyana, Russia (SportsNetwork.com) - Norway's Emil Hegle Svendsen won his third Olympic gold medal Tuesday at the Sochi Olympics, beating French biathlete Martin Fourcade in a sprint to the finish line to take the men's 15- kilometer mass start event.
Svendsen did not incur a single penalty in the shooting portion of the event and was able to beat Fourcade, winner of two gold medals in Sochi, in a photo finish. Both skiers crossed the finish line in 42 minutes, 29.1 seconds, but Svendsen was declared the winner after a quick check of the photo evidence.
Fourcade, Olympic champion in the individual and pursuit at the 2014 Games, missed one shot en route to his silver-medal finish on Tuesday.
Ondrej Moravec of the Czech Republic won bronze with a time of 42:42.9. It was the second medal of the Sochi Games for Moravec, who finished second to Fourcade in the pursuit.
Slovakia's Jakov Fak finished in fourth place, 14.3 seconds behind Moravec.
Tuesday's race was originally scheduled for Sunday, but was postponed on consecutive days due to heavy fog.
Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen finished in 22nd place to miss out on another chance to set the all-time Winter Olympics medal record. The biathlon legend missed six shots in the event to take himself out of medal contention.
Bjoerndalen won the men's 10-kilometer sprint on Feb. 8 for his 12th medal, tying him with Norwegian cross country skier Bjorn Daehlie for the most all- time among Winter Olympians. Daehlie won 12 medals between 1992-98 -- including eight golds.
Bjoerndalen, 40, has an excellent chance to medal with Norway in the men's biathlon relay on Saturday and could also reach the podium if he races in the mixed relay on Wednesday. The seven-time Olympic champion is the oldest Winter Olympian to win an individual gold.
The United States still has never won an Olympic biathlon medal. Tim Burke had the best showing for an America on Tuesday, finishing in 21st place. Lowell Bailey of the U.S. was one place behind Bjoerndalen in 23rd.
Canada's Brendan Green finished ninth and countryman Jean-Philippe Le Guellec was 10th.
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