Biathlon Medal Results and Times from Olympic 2014 Men's 15km Mass Start

Emil Hegle Svendsen dramatically won gold for Norway in the men's Biathlon 15km mass start by pipping Martin Fourcade of France.

The Sochi 2014 Official Twitter account highlighted the excitement:

Rank	Name	Country	Shooting	Total penalties	Times
1	Emil Hegle Svendsen	Norway	0+0+0+0	0	42:29.1
2	Martin Fourcade	France	1+0+0+0	1	42:29.1
3	Ondrej Moravec	Czech Republic	0+0+0+0	0	42:42.9
4	Jakov Fak	Slovenia	0+1+1+0	2	42:57.2
5	Evgeniy Garanichev	Russia	0+1+1+1	3	43:25.3
6	Fredrik Lindstroem	Sweden	0+1+0+1	2	43:30.5
7	Dominik Landertinger	Austria	1+0+0+1	2	43:32.8
8	Johannes Thingnes Boe	Norway	1+0+0+0	1	43:34.2
9	Brendan Green	Canada	1+1+0+0	2	43:38.3
10	Jean-Philippe Le Guellec	Canada	0+0+0+1	1	43:41.6

Svendsen and Fourcade were deemed to finish on the same time, but the Norwegian was judged to have crossed the line first to take gold.

That is because Fourcade stumbled in an attempt to stretch for the finish line, costing him first place.

NBC's Nick Zaccardi tweeted a picture which showed just how close the finish was:

That latest win continues a fine run for Svendsen, who won world titles in sprint, pursuit, mixed relay and men's relay in 2013.

Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press

Ondrej Moravec of the Czech Republic came in third to secure the bronze medal.

Matthew Pinsent, a four-time gold-medal-winning rower for Great Britain, tweeted his admiration for the sport:

Another Norwegian, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, missed the opportunity to win a record 13th Olympic medal after missing six shots across the four shoots and finishing way back in 22nd. However, Bjoerndalen will compete in the mixed and men's relays, giving him two more chances to grab the record.

Fourcade, a five-time World Champion also finished second in 2010, but has the chance to bounce back at the 2018 Winter Olympics as he is only 25 years of age. This defeat will come as a hammer blow to him having come so close to winning, but he can console himself with the pursuit and individual gold medals he has already won in Sochi.