Greenlandic biathlete Sondre Slettemark is representing Denmark at the Winter Olympics, and on Tuesday he stamped his mark at the Games in northern Italy.
He was at the legendary facility in Anterselva when the men's individual 20-kilometer competition went off without a hitch, and he finished 62nd out of 89.
- I had hoped to be a little closer, but I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied with just being here. It's the Olympics, and it was a lot of fun, Sondre Slettemark tells DR 1.
Along the 20 kilometers, he had to complete four shots - two prone and two standing. And it didn't go quite as he had hoped.
Sondre Slettemark dreamed of hitting the target on all 20 shots, but he had to settle for 17 perfect hits.
The Greenlander got a perfect score in the first prone shot, but missed twice in the subsequent standing shot. On the second prone shot, he again got a perfect score, but on the last standing shot, he had a single miss.
This gave him three penalty minutes, which is a bit too much when you are far from the fastest on the ski track.
When he crossed the finish line, he was number 15, but he was rattling further and further down because many stronger runners started after him.
Norwegian Johan-Olav Botn won gold in Tuesday's competition and sent a message to his late compatriot Sivert Guttorm Bakken, who he himself found dead in a hotel room at the end of 2025.
- Sivert - we made it, Johan-Olav Botn shouted to the TV camera as he crossed the finish line.
The two Norwegians were at an altitude training camp in Lavazé, Italy, just before Christmas when Sivert Guttorm Bakken died.
Sondre Slettemark will be back in action on Friday, where he will run the sprint. Before that, his sister, Ukaleq, and Danish-Norwegian Anne de Besche will run the 15 kilometer distance on Wednesday.
/ritzau/
