Vincent Jay causes a huge upset in the 10km biathlon sprint

Frenchman Vincent Jay shocked Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen to clinch gold in the men's 10km biathlon sprint.

Bjoerndalen, who has five Olympic titles to his name, was attempting to emulate compatriot Bjorn Daehlie's record of eight gold medals.

However, poor shooting cost him dearly as he finished in 21th as Jay recorded a time of 24 minutes 7.8 seconds.

Emil Hegle Svendsen won silver while Jakov Fak took bronze, with Briton Lee Jackson finished in 55th place.

Biathlon combines cross-country skiing with shooting at targets - with the threat of extra distance to ski or time penalties if a competitor misses.

Bjoerndalen is considered the best biathlete of all time having won five gold medals in his first two Games, with four coming at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.

I had a slice of luck today with the weather conditions Vincent Jay

A severe cold kept Bjoerndalen bedridden for more than a week in Turin four years later, badly disrupting his training program as he finished with two silvers and a bronze.

But his hopes of surpassing Daehlie to become the greatest Winter Olympian of all time ended when some uncharacteristically sloppy shooting cost him valuable time as he raced around the penalty track.

"I was very bad at the first shooting. It was not because of the conditions, it was my own mistake," said Bjoerndalen. "It just wasn't my day."

Jay, ranked 20th in the world standings, took advantage of his early start with the favourable weather conditions as snow hampered the later starters.

"I had a slice of luck today with the weather conditions," said the 25-year-old.

"But I did shoot 10 out of 10 targets, and I don't owe that to the conditions. That was me."

The 25-year-old finished almost 13 seconds ahead of Norway's Svendsen, who lies in seventh in the world standings, while Fak, ranked in a lowly 64th place, surpassed his own realistic hopes when he finished in third place.

Briton Jackson earned a qualifying place for the pursuit after finishing inside the top 60.

"I was quite fortunate with the weather and I made the top 60 which makes me happy," he said.

"I missed my final shots at both targets which was disappointing but I was quite fortunate I had an early start number."

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