site.btaBulgarian Biathletes Struggle in 12.5km Pursuit at Milan Cortina Olympics

Bulgarian biathlete Konstantin Vasilev finished 57th in the 12.5-kilometre pursuit at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

The 22-year-old debutant completed the race last in 40:00.7 minutes after missing seven targets.

Another Bulgarian competitor, 24-year-old Blagoy Todev, was lapped after the third shooting stage, having already missed three targets, and therefore did not place. 

Todev started 42nd after the sprint, with a deficit of two and a half minutes, while Vasilev started 56th, nearly three minutes behind the leader. 

Swede Martin Ponsiluoma, who started seventh, made only one shooting error across four stages and finished in 31:11.9 minutes, claiming his first Olympic gold and his second Olympic medal after silver in the mass start at Beijing 2022. 

World vice-champion in the discipline from Oberhof 2023 and Nove Mesto 2024, Sturla Holm Laegreid of Norway, finished second with two shooting misses, 20.6 seconds behind, earning his third medal at Milan-Cortina following two bronze medals in the 20km individual and sprint events.

French biathlete Emilien Jacquelin claimed bronze, 29.7 seconds behind, hitting 17 of 20 targets. The 30-year-old world champion in pursuit from Antholz-Anterselva 2020 and Pokljuka 2021 had led by more than half a minute before the final shooting but missed two targets, losing a near-certain victory.

Defending Beijing 2022 champion Quentin Fillon Maillet, who won two gold medals at Milan-Cortina 2026 in the mixed relay and sprint and now has seven Olympic medals in total – four gold and three silver – struggled in this race. Starting first, he missed five targets and finished seventh, 1:13.5 minutes behind.