Biathlon-Norway's Laegreid puts love-cheat story aside to grab another Olympic bronze

ANTERSELVA, ITALY, Feb 13 : Norway's Sturla Holm Laegreid endured a turbulent few days after admitting in a post-race interview on Tuesday that he had cheated on his ex-girlfriend, but the ensuing controversy had no effect on his biathlon performance as he secured his second bronze medal of the Milano Cortina Games in Friday's men's 10km sprint. 

Quentin Fillon Maillet of France took the gold medal and Laegreid almost secured the silver, but his countryman Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen snatched it from his grasp with a superb final spurt to leave Laegreid with another third-placed finish. 

"For me, silver or bronze, it's the same, and just to share the experience with Vetle is huge. I was just incredibly happy for him," Laegreid told Reuters.

Asked if the noise around his Tuesday confession had bothered him before the race, the 28-year-old was sanguine. 

"This is what I've been doing my whole life - I've been training to focus for many years now, and it's paying off," he said. 

There was no sign of the emotions that had him in tears on Tuesday as he kept himself firmly in check. 

"I'm just working with what I can do, one step at a time, one shooting at a time, and trying to stay focused. Today, it paid off," he said. 

"No days are the same, no medals are the same. Every medal has its own unique experience."