Norway stayed firmly in the medals lead at the Winter Olympics in Sochi on Tuesday, after biathlon skier Tora Berger also won silver in the women’s 10-kilometer pursuit. Her medal brought the day’s haul to four, for a total of 11 medals after four days of competition.
That beats the second-place nation, Canada, with nine, followed by the Netherlands and the US with eight and six respectively. Norway and Canada had four gold medals each as of Tuesday afternoon.
Berger was somewhat disappointed, given her earlier biathlon victories in several World Championships and at the last Olympics in Vancouver. She told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) that she lost some time when she got sprayed by snow and ice in her face after her first shot. “But I got a big defensive right after that, and lost a lot,” Berger said.
She started 10th on Tuesday in the sport that combines shooting with cross-country skiing. She didn’t miss a shot from the lying-down position but felt she skied too slowly compared to the winner of the race, Darya Domracheva of Belarus, who was in the lead.
“I had a plan to open a bit calmly and then gradually pick up speed, though, and that went well,” said Berger, who’s a veteran of her sport at age 37.
She ended behind Domracheva, but ahead of Teja Gregorin from Slovenia, who won the bronze medal in Tuesday’s biathlon event. The next-best Norwegian was Ann Kristin Flatland, who ended in ninth place, one minute, nine-and-a-half seconds behind Domracheva.
Tiril Eckhoff of Norway landed in 24th place, and Synnøve Solemdal in 36th.
newsinenglish.no/Nina Berglund
