Norway’s Johannes Dale-Skjevdal in the third Olympic start of his career took control of this afternoon’s Milano Cortina 2026 Men’s 15 km Mass Start when he cleaned both standing stages, skiing to the Gold medal, unchallenged in 39:17.1. The 28-year-old, left off both the Mixed Relay and Relay squads, was the only clean shooter in the 30-man field. Dale-Skjevdal started the season in the IBU Cup but now with his fifth career victory is an Olympic champion.

“First time in my career: 20-out-of-20”

The Olympic Mass Start Champion was thrilled with his shooting. “First time in my career to do 20-out-of-20. What a day to do it on! It was good timing for sure. Today, I felt very calm and ready. It just felt like my day. Everything went in; an amazing feeling…I really wanted to shoot 20-out-of 20…The best feeling on the range in my whole life. It is hard coming into lane number one all by yourself in front of this crowd. It’s also a dream situation; you want to be in it! But I managed it perfectly.”

“Glide into the finish; a moment I will never forget"

Regarding missing the relays, “I raced all the individual races here and of course wanted to race the relays. But now with this Gold, everything is okay with me. I don’t care about what happened in the beginning of the Olympics, It was very important to get a medal today; that meant a lot to me, because you never know how many chances you will get.” As for crossing the finish line, “That glide into the finish is a moment I will never forget. It was amazing!”

Dale-Skjevdal’s teammate Sturla Holm Laegreid, with one penalty, won the Silver medal, 10.5 seconds back, his fifth medal of these Games. Laegreid who turned 29 today became the first man to win medals in each individual biathlon discipline in a single OWG. France’s Olympic Sprint Champion Quentin Fillon Maillet, with four penalties, rebounded in the last loop to pass Germany’s Philipp Horn for the Bronze medal, the French star’s fourth medal in the last two weeks, 25.6 seconds back.

Horn, with one penalty, equaled the second-best result of his career in fourth place, 35.5 seconds back. Norway added a third man in the top six, with Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen fifth, 1:48.1 back. Czechia’s Michal Krcmar with a strong last loop, moved from seventh to sixth, with five penalties, 2:03.6 back.

Emilien Jacquelin, Tommaso Giacomel lead Early

The final men’s competition at these Milan/Cortina Olympic Winter Games saw partly cloudy skies, a packed stadium and the wind flags blowing stiffly, making shooting standing especially tricky. Jacquelin blew through the first prone stage, grabbing the top spot, leading 19 men within 19 seconds. Casualties with penalties included Fillon Maillet with one penalty.

By the second prone, Jacquelin had a 16-second lead but missed a shot. Giacomel cleaned along with Laegreid, Christiansen and Dale-Skjevdal. The Italian led with Jacquelin and Laegreid on his shoulder and the other two Norwegians another second in arrears. Halfway through the next loop, Giacomel suddenly struggled and dropped out while Fillon Maillet moved up to fifth.

Dale-Skjevdal Perfect Standing Stages Secure Gold

With the wind howling and light snow in the air, Laegreid led into the first standing stage. Almost everyone missed except Dale-Skjevdal cleaned, 11 seconds up on Laegreid, trailing by 21 seconds with Krcmar 33 back and a second before Fillon Maillet.

The Norwegian veteran battled the wind but shot clean with authority in the last standing, sealing the Gold medal. Laegreid matched, ensuring a 1-2 Norwegian finish. Horn missed a shot in third position; Fillon Maillet followed 6 second behind. With 2 km to go, the Sprint Gold medalist was closing on Horn, passing him on the steep Huber Alm uphill, pulling away for the Bronze medal.

Photos: IBU/Vianney Thibaut, Ola Wizor, Nordic Focus