Ferry and Neuner claim biathlon golds

Bjorn Ferry of Sweden pegged back Frenchman Vincent Jay then attacked in the final loop to win gold in the men's 12.5km biathlon pursuit.

Ferry, 31, started eighth, 72 seconds behind Jay, based on the results of Sunday's sprint event, which Jay won.

But he closed the gap with some clean shooting then had more than Jay, who went on to take bronze, late on.

Lee Jackson, the first Briton to qualify for the pursuit, finished 56th, one spot down on his start position.

The 29-year-old soldier from Stockton-on-Tees hit two clear shooting rounds out of four, but was hampered by missing three targets on his penultimate round.

"I skied well. I was disappointed with my first standing shoot, but I picked it up at the end," said Jackson, who completes his Winter Olympic debut in the 20km individual event on Thursday.

Christoph Sumann of Austria, overcame an 85-second handicap to pip Jay for second place.

But there was disappointment for Norwegian Emil Hegle Svendsen, who began the day just 12 seconds behind Jay and briefly closed the gap before falling back into eighth place because of untidy shooting in the last three rounds.

Norway's Ole Einar Bjorndalen, a nine-times Olympic medallist who is widely regarded at the best biathlete ever, ended up in seventh spot after starting a crisp but dry day in the Whistler mountains in 17th place.

"I had a good skiing performance but missed two [targets] in the last shooting when I felt very tired," said Bjorndalen, who struck gold four times at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

"We had perfect weather and the same conditions for everybody so it was a good race."

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