Bjorndalen fades as unstoppable Fourcade powers to another victory

The 43-year old biathlete will not be celebrating his next birthday this month with selection to a seventh Olympic Games.

The most decorated Winter Olympian in history, with eight golds, four silvers and a bronze, has raged hard against the passage of time but even his greatest fan wouldn't be able to make a case for the 20-time world champion.

Norway took five men to the Sochi Games and Bjorndalen needed an attention-grabbing performance in the 20km individual World Cup in Ruhpolding to put himself in contention.

France's Martin Fourcade powered to yet another victory to extend his advantage in the World Cup standings but all eyes were on Bjorndalen, who finished nearly five minutes back.

At the halfway stage he was up in fifth position and seemingly on course to produce a display that defied convention and logic. But three late misses on the range dropped him down to 42nd, a surely decisive blow to his selection hopes.

However, his place in history is already secure, with 95 career biathlon victories long securing his spot in the pantheon of his sport's legends.

In contrast to Bjorndalen's sad struggles, Fourcade hasn't finished off the podium this season, winning five times, and this was another special performance.

He was unerring on the range until his very last shot but still beat his nearest rival, the Czech Republic's Ondrej Moravec, by just over a minute.

"I wanted to beat my record of 13 podiums in a row, that is what I had in mind before the race and to do that on one of my favourite tracks means so much," said Fourcade, who came into this event on the back of sprint and pursuit wins in Oberhof last week.

Norway's Johannes Thinges Boe banked another podium finish - his ninth from 11 races this season - to underline why he's the man most likely to challenge Fourcade’s dominance in PyeongChang next month.

Fourcade boosts a 40 point advantage over the Norwegian in the overall season standings while Slovenia's Jakov Fak, 14th in Rupolding, remains third despite finishing behind nearest rival, Italy's Lukas Hofer.

Elsewhere, Great Britain's Scott Dixon, who is trying to earn one of the IBU's wildcard selections for the Games, endured a tough day with six missed shots on the range dropping him just outside the top 100.

Sportsbeat 2018