Norway wins men's biathlon relay on ROC shooting errors

Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Norway has won gold in the men's relay biathlon in Beijing on Tuesday after capitalizing on shooting mistakes by the Russian Olympic Committee.

The Russian athletes were leading for the majority the men's 4x7.5km (4.6 miles) race, gaining a 36 second lead by halfway, but were set back at the final shooting range where Eduard Latypov missed two targets and used up all his ammunition.

The mistake not only incurred steep penalties for the ROC but costly ones as it allowed not only Norway but France to to pass them, leaving the two European nations in a sprint to the finish.

Norway's Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen was the first to cross the finish line and he skiied into the open arms of his cheering teammates for a time of 1 hour 19 minutes and 50.2 seconds.

France's Quentin Fillon Maillet finished 27.4 seconds later followed Latypov who collapsed to his knees, dejected.

The win for France is the fifth medal for Maillet in the Beijing Olympics, making him not only the first French athlete to win five medals in a single Olympics but the first biathlon athlete of any nation, according to the Olympics.

Maillet in Beijing previously won two golds in the men's 20km individual and the men's 12.5 km pursuit and two silvers in the men's 10km sprint and the mixed relay 4x6km.

On Friday, he has a chance to win a sixth medal when he competes in the men's 15km mass start.

The race on Tuesday was brought forward two and a half hours due to cold weather concerns.