Bjoerndalen

Defrasne, who skied in Bjoerndalen's slipstream for the final, grueling kilometer uphill, stumbled at the top as he turned onto the straightaway but recovered in time to outsprint Bjoerndalen, who settled for his second silver medal, finishing 2.7 seconds behind Defrasne's winning time of 35 minutes, 20.2 seconds.

USATODAY.com - Frenchman surges to gold in 12.5km biathlon pursuit 2006

Inside scoop: Bjoerndalen is the two-time defending Olympic champion, but Andresen, the 1998 silver medalist, got back-to-back World Cup victories heading into Torino.

USATODAY.com - Showing mettle 2006

Biathlon's biggest star and a five-time gold-medalist, Bjoerndalen is now 0-for-4 in Italy after sweeping all four gold medals at Salt Lake City in 2002.

USATODAY.com - Germany wins biathlon relay; U.S. briefly in first 2006

It looked as though Defrasne was running out of steam as he kept looking over his shoulder in Bjoerndalen's shadow.

USATODAY.com - Frenchman surges to gold in 12.5km biathlon pursuit 2006

Bjoerndalen misses seven and is at the back of the field.

Tim Burke feels biathlon's cruelty in men's 15K mass start 2010

Biathlon legend Ole Einar Bjoerndalen won his 10th Olympic medal, tying for silver with Sergey Novikov, who took Belarus 'second medal of the day after Darya Domracheva's bronze in the women's race.

Biathlete Tim Burke, U.S. team perplexed by performance 2010

Norway won, with Ole Einar Bjoerndalen racing away on the anchor leg to take his 11th Olympic medal and sixth gold.

After disappointing Olympics, U.S. biathletes look forward 2010

Sergey Novikov of Belarus, who hit all 20 targets, tied Bjoerndalen for the silver medal.

Biathlete Tim Burke, U.S. team perplexed by performance 2010

Bjoerndalen now trails only Bjorn Daehlie (12) on the list of all-time medalists.

After disappointing Olympics, U.S. biathletes look forward 2010

Teela didn't have the energy to stay with Norwegian legend Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, who was going for his 11th Olympic medal but missed seven shots on his way to a 27th-place finish.

Tim Burke feels biathlon's cruelty in men's 15K mass start 2010