Vincent Jay tears up form book to strike sprint gold

From Sportsbeat Staff, in Vancouver

FRANCE'S Vincent Jay continued the run of surprises in the biathlon competition by claiming 10km sprint gold at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

SHARPSHOOTER: France's Vincent Jay completes two perfect shoots to win the men's biathlon 10km sprint in Whistler (Getty Images)

Just as in the women's sprint on Saturday, where Slovakia's Anastaszia Kuzmina picked up a surprise gold, mistakes were rife as conditions worsened at the Whister Olympic Park.

But 24-year old Jay, who lies 40th in the World Cup sprint standings, set out early in the competition and completed two perfect shooting stages to win in 24:07.8 minutes.

Jay's success followed hot on the footsteps of teammate Marie Dorin's surprise bronze in the women's 7.5km sprint and the Frenchman admitted her performance had inspired him.

"We put Marie on the podium yesterday and that really surprised us," said Jay, who's only World Cup victory came on the same track in Whistler last season.

"She demonstrated that anything's possible and we have to do away with our complex about the Olympics.

"I had a lot of luck with the weather conditions today but the shooting was my own doing and I've worked hard for this. I had the map of the course hanging in my bedroom, so every morning, I looked at it to visualise the course.

"Vancouver was the objective of the season and now I don't know whether to be totally liberated because I'm an Olympic champion or even more stressed because I want to win a second medal."

Triple world champion Emil Helge Svendsen also escaped the worst of the weather but a solitary miss in his prone shoot cost the Norwegian dearly as he eventually crossed the line 12.2 seconds down on the Frenchman.

And the 24-year old admitted the heavy rain had nearly cost him his first Olympic medal.

"I got this medal because I was very lucky," said Svendsen, who won the individual and mass start titles at the 2008 World Championships in Oestersund.

"The worst weather started when I was at the finish. When I saw the snow coming down I thought I would have done enough for a medal because the conditions had become so bad."

Croatia's Jakov Fav will be another new face on the podium after striking bronze in his first Olympic race, another 1.8 back after two flawless shooting stages.

Pre-race favourites Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, Evgeny Ustyugov and Simon Fourcade were less fortuitous and suffered heavily on the shooting range.

World champion and World Cup sprint leader Bjoerndalen was going for his sixth Olympic medal but three penalties on his prone shoot left him way off the pace and another on his standing shoot meant the Norwegian slumped to 17th, 1:41.1 off the pace.

France's overall World Cup leader Fourcade also struggled on the range with four penalty loops and finished 3:45.2 back in 68th while Russia's Ustyugov, who won the World Cup sprint race in Oberhof this season, was 1:40.1 back in 15th after two misses.

And Fourcade, who's brother Martin finished 35th, admitted the pressure had taken its toll on him.

"Of course it was an advantage to be in the first group but I did not shoot according to this start number," said the Frenchman.

"I was really stressed in this first race and I'm really disappointed. I was under pressure and, next time, I will concentrate more and hope for a better result."

Great Britain's Lee-Steve Jackson missed once on each shoot and crossed the line 3:10.3 after Jay to finish 55th.

IN PICTURES: Vincent Jay's surprise victory in the men's 10km sprint

AS IT HAPPENS: Day three from the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver