Biathlon-Botn hopes gold makes late teammate Bakken proud

ANTERSELVA, Italy, Feb 10 : Norway's Johan-Olav Botn roared the name of late teammate Sivert Guttorm Bakken as he crossed the line as winner of the men's 20 km individual biathlon on Tuesday, pointing to the heavens in a moment of triumph and grief. 

Bakken, 27, was found dead on December 23 in a hotel room in northern Italy, about two hours from where the Olympic biathlon competitions are taking place, leaving the tight-knit biathlon community in shock.

Botn hit all 20 of his shots as he blazed to victory.

"I was racing with him the entire last loop. And, yeah, it was more like a feeling of crossing the finish line together and seeing the number one beside my name was really special," an emotional Botn told reporters, his gold medal around his neck.

"I was just looking up in the sky and hoping that he was watching, and hoping that he was proud of me."

Olympic champions in the mixed relay in Beijing in 2022, Norway missed the podium completely in the same event on Sunday, but by Tuesday they made a move towards re-establishing their dominance of recent years.

"A gold is one thing, but the other thing is the feeling, when you're thinking about Sivert and I think everyone on the team is just hoping that he's proud of what we have done and what we have accomplished," Botn said.

"We were five guys on the start line today, and one of them was watching from above. This was for Sivert, really," Norwegian bronze medallist Sturla Holm Laegreid told reporters after the race in which the country's four competitors came in the top 13 finishers.

After winning gold in the mixed relay on Sunday, Eric Perrot of France had to be content with a silver medal in the 20 km race after a single costly miss on the shooting range. 

"I have to be proud of