20 kilometres, Men1

Originally scheduled for 8 February, after 35 skiers had started the event was cancelled because of a snow storm, which made the shooting conditions almost impossible, and was re-scheduled for the next day.

Soviet’s Aleksandr Tikhonov had been the dominant biathlete since his silver medal at the 1968 Winter Olympics, winning individual World Championships gold in 1969 and 1970, silver in 1971, and was also a member of the gold winning Soviet relay team all three years. Magnar Solberg, the surprise Olympic gold medalist from 1968, had won individual bronze medals in the World Championships in 1969 and 1971, and silver with the Norwegian relay team in 1969, 1970 and 1971. However, he still had no medals from Norwegian Championships, and the 35-year old policeman from Trondheim showed no signs of Olympic form at the start of the 1972 season, and was not, in fact, originally chosen for the Norwegian team. The selection committee agreed to give him an extra chance, and he again showed that he was made for big occasions.

After the first shooting round Solberg was in the lead with no misses, 22 seconds ahead of the Swede Lars-Göran Arwidson, with Finland’s Yrjö Salpakari third, 10 seconds behind Arwidson. The favorite Tikhonov had three penalty minutes and was far behind. After the second shooting, Arwidson had taken a clear lead with a perfect round with the rifle. A big surprise was the 27-year-old Italian, Willy Bertin, who had started with one penalty minute, but now had a perfect round and climbed to second, 49 seconds behind Arwidson, and closely followed by Salkapari. Solberg had one penalty minute and dropped down to seventh place, 1:35 behind the leader.

After the third round of shooting the situation changed. Bertin had another perfect round and took over the lead, 32 seconds ahead of East Germany’s Hansjörg Knauthe, who had a one minute penalty from the first shooting round but since then had moved steadily up in the rankings. Salkapari was still in third, closely followed by Solberg, moving from seventh to fourth in spite of one additional penalty minute. Arwidson had two penalty minutes and dropped from first to fifth, but only 11 seconds behind the bronze position.

At the final shooting round, Bertin had four penalty minutes and was out of contention for a medal. Both Solberg, Knauthe, Arwidson and Salpakari had perfect shooting series, but Solberg was the fastest skiier and had a seven seconds lead over Knauthe. Arvidsson and Salpakari were 35 and 45 seconds behind, with no chances for gold. At the finish Solberg had extended his lead over Knauthe to 12 seconds and won his second Olympic gold medal, as dominant as he had been in 1968. Arwidson was able to defend his bronze medal position, ahead of fast finishing Tikhonov, who passed Salpakari in the final stages of the race. Finland’s Esko Saira was the fastest skier of the day, but had to be content with sixth place due to five penalty minutes. A few weeks after his second Olympic gold medal, Solberg was finally able to win a national championship gold medal, and after that he left top-sport to pursue a career as a police officer and criminal investigator.