ANTERSELVA, Italy, Feb 20 : Norway’s Johannes Dale-Skjevdal hit all 20 targets on the shooting range for the first time in his senior career on his way to Olympic gold in the men’s mass start at the Milano Cortina Games on Friday, displaying a precision that has often deserted him in the past.
The 28-year-old has mixed some stellar displays of skiing and shooting with some less-than-brilliant efforts during his career, often leaving him on the fringes of a national team bristling with talent. But Friday’s performance left him beaming with pride.
“First time in my life, first time in my career, 20 out of 20 – what a day to do it on! It was good timing, for sure,” he told reporters, a broad grin lighting up his face.
Dale-Skjevdal came into the Olympics hitting around 80 per cent of his shots in the standing position this season, and despite the blustery conditions for Friday’s race, he looked steady as a rock as he calmly felled the five targets on each of his two standing shoots to send him cruising away to the gold with time to spare.
“I was feeling very calm. I was feeling very ready, so today it felt like my day. Everything went in and yeah, it was an amazing feeling, for sure, one of the best feelings I’ve had on the range for my whole life,” he explained.
“It’s very hard coming into lane number one all by yourself in front of this crowd, but it’s also a dream, a situation you want to be in.
“It’s also super hard to manage, but today I managed it perfectly. So I’m looking forward to watching it back on tape. I really want to see it,” he said.
After not being selected for the mixed and men’s relays at the Games, taking an individual gold in the last men’s race made his moment all the sweeter.
“I have raced all the individual races here, and of course, I wanted also to race the relays, but when I end up with this gold, everything is OK for me. Now I don’t care for what happened in the beginning of the Olympics,” he said.
“It was very important for me, actually, to get the gold today – no, not to get the gold, but to get the medal at least. That will mean a lot to me today, because you never know how many chances you get. When I then get the gold on top, it’s amazing.”
