Germany ease to relay gold

ByEurosport

Published 21/02/2006 at 12:30 GMT

Germany produced a clinical ski and shoot to ease to the men's 4x7.5km relay gold medal on Tuesday. Rico Gross and Michael Roesch set the foundations for the win before Sven Fischer surprisingly erred on the range only for anchor man Michael Greis to brin

France's Raphael Poiree snatched bronze in the most dramatic of circumstances, lunging for the line to pip Sweden's Carl Johan Bergman by the slimmest of margins.

It was a sensational end to a race that only heated up on the final two legs as Germany - through Rico Gross and youngster Michael Roesch - handed Fischer a healthy 24.4 second lead over surprise challengers Italy.

BIATHLON 2006 Torino 2006 Germany Relay Men Fischer Rösch Roesch

Image credit: dpa

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Having missed just once in the prone position - quickly cleaned up with the first spare round - Fischer strode off the range with Italy's unheralded Paolo Longo second, 21.1 back, France's Ferreol Cannard over 50 seconds behind in third and Russia and Norway nowhere.

But incredibly, the veteran of four Games and two Olympic relay wins - already with Sprint gold pocketed - fell to pieces on the standing shoot, missing four times to head out onto the penalty loop and give the pack a sniff.

WAVERED

Scenting blood, Russian veteran Pavel Rostovtsev closed to within half a minute as Longo suffered to slip down the field with only Cannard managing to cling onto his position.

Greis then wavered on the range to allow Poiree to narrow the gap to 16 seconds with a clear prone shoot with Russia's Nikolay Kruglov breathing down his neck.

But Greis held his nerve on the final shoot, coolly reloading only once to lead Germany to a fourth biathlon gold of the Games and reclaim the title taken from them by the Norwegians at Salt Lake City.

BIATHLON 2006 Torino 2006 Germany Relay Men Greis

Image credit: dpa

"It was a fantastic team performance," coach Frank Ulrich said in the finish area. "It might have seemed easy but they had to fight for it and they showed great mental strength."

While Kruglov sailed round to the silver, Poiree gave himself the hardest of tasks to earn himself a first medal of a disappointing Games as his shooting yips again wracked him on his final visit to the range.

Poiree seemed to be well in control with four targets calmly knocked off, but then needed his three spare rounds to clear the fifth to leave himself 13 seconds to make up on Bergman over the final 2.5km.

With both Swede and Frenchman exhausted, they lumbered into the finishing straight with Bergman looking the likely winner only for the Swede to stumble just before the line to allow Poiree to steal it.

Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen produced a superhuman ski to bring his country home fifth, making up 1:30 on Greis after catastrophic visits to the range by Halvard Hanevold and Frode Andresen left him over two minutes off the pace at the final changeover.

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