Norwegian Olympic rookie Johan-Olav Botn rose to the occasion this afternoon, shooting clean while skiing strongly to win the Men’s 20 km Individual Gold medal at the Milan/Cortina Olympic Winter Games in 51:35.5. Botn, in the medal mix from the start took over the lead from eventual Silver medalist Eric Perrot in the second prone when he cleaned while Perrot picked up one penalty. From that point, Botn went unchallenged to the Gold medal.

Botn became the second man to win an Olympic Biathlon Gold medal in his first-ever try. France’s Vincent Jay won the 2010 Vancouver Men’s 10 km Sprint, also shooting clean.

Perrot who led through the first two shooting stages won the Silver medal, 14.8 seconds back for his second medal of these Games, after taking Mixed Relay Gold on Sunday. Botn’s teammate Sturla Holm Laegreid, also with one penalty won the Bronze medal, 48.3 seconds back. The Bronze medal was Laegreid’s first Olympic medal; he previously won Gold with Norway’s Men’s Relay in 2022.

Photos: IBU/Vianney Thibaut, Nordic Focus