Germany's Denise Herrmann holds nerve to win women's 15km biathlon

Denise Herrmann held her nerve to win the gold medal for Germany in a thrilling women's 15km pursuit race at the Beijing Olympics on Monday, with Anais Chevalier-Bouchet of France taking silver Norway's Marte Olsbu Roieseland bronze. With each missed shot adding a minute to the total time there was little margin for error, but the swirling winds from recent days had died down, making it easier to hit the target and turning the competition into an epic battle of nerves.

Roieseland got the proceedings underway in freezing temperatures, with the rest of the athletes starting at 30-second intervals as the sun began to set over the National Biathlon Centre in Zhangjiakou. Herrmann was perfect at her first standing shoot but she was quickly matched by Swedish prodigy Elvira Oeberg, who kept the pressure on with clean shooting and her trademark powerful skiing.

A miss by Herrmann, who won a bronze medal in the 4x5 km relay at the Sochi Olympics, dented her hopes, but a wayward shot by Oeberg allowed the German to retake the lead as the challenge of the young Swede faded. Nerves got the better of the chasing pack and no-one was able to match the pinpoint shooting of the German 33-year-old as she secured gold in a time of 44 minutes 12.7 seconds with her compatriot, International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach, watching from the stands.

Norway's Roieseland skied solidly throughout but missed her last standing shot and it was to prove to be an expensive mistake, as Herrmann hit all five in a perfect series, leaving her to blaze away from the range with a commanding lead. Chevalier-Bouchet skied superbly on the last leg to get ahead of the Norwegian and claim second place by a margin of 5.9 seconds.