A Norwegian Winter Olympic athlete threw away his likelihood of a gold medal in a biathlon occasion by going the incorrect means on the 10km cross nation ski race.
Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber, who was competing within the Nordic mixed particular person massive hill/10 km occasion, had an enormous 44-second lead within the essential cross nation leg and was heading in direction of gold.
Nevertheless, Riiber – unfamiliar with the monitor as he couldn’t follow on it after testing optimistic for coronavirus earlier this month – realised he was going the incorrect means on the monitor and sharply turned spherical.
A Norwegian Winter Olympic athlete blew his possibilities of profitable gold by going the incorrect means on a 10km ski race
Jarl Magnus Riiber was competing within the Nordic mixed particular person massive hill/10 km biathlon occasion however needed to flip spherical within the second a part of the competition
The 24-year-old completed eighth within the cross nation race after realising his error as his compatriots Jorgen Graabak and Jens Luras Oftebro made it a Norway one-two on the rostrum, leaving Riiber to rue his second of misdirection.
Riiber had put himself in an excellent place to take the gold within the biathlon occasion after profitable the person massive hill occasion with a leap of 142 meters, incomes 139.8 factors within the course of.
The 24-year-old then went out first within the 10km race with a 44-second result in his identify, however his wrong-way second scribbled out that benefit and Riiber ended up 40 seconds behind the chief Graabak.
Riiber (center) was finally caught up by the remainder of the sector and slipped to eighth place
Riiber examined optimistic for coronavirus earlier this month and was solely launched on Monday, that means he was unable to follow on the 10km monitor primarily based on the Kuyangshu Nordic Middle and Biathlon Middle.
The Norwegian was a heavy favorite to win the Olympic gold having gained 21 out of the 24 massive hill tournaments – together with his final 5 in a row – however he got here out unprepared for the second a part of the biathlon occasion in minus 20 diploma temperatures.
Riiber admitted that he might need been capable of struggle for the bronze place, however believed his gold medal possibilities had been ruined by that mistake.
‘I didn’t really feel fully match,’ he stated after the occasion. ‘Possibly I may have fought for the bronze. I don’t assume the gold would have been attainable anyway.’
