E. German grabs second title

Press, 25 February 1988, Page 32

E. German grabs second title

Biathlon

NZPA-Reuter Calgary East Germany’s FrankPeter Roetsch, already double world champion, claimed a second Olympic title with victory in a lightning-fast 10km biathlon yesterday. Roetsch, who won the 20km biathlon gold on Sunday, again proved that his speed on the crosscountry ski-ing portion of |he event compensated for his lesser ability on the shooting range as he won in another Olympic record time. He had to ski one 150metre penalty loop after missing one of the five targets from a standing position but still beat Valeri Medvedtsev of the Soviet Union, who had no misses, by more than 15 seconds. Medvedtsev, as on Saturday, had to settle for silver with his team-mate Sergei Tchepikov, who also incurred no penalties, making up for his fourth

place in the 20km race by taking bronze ahead of East Germany’s Birk Anders. Canmore Nordic Centre’s fast courses and the icy weather combined’ to help a staggering 62 of the 72 finishers beat the previous Olympic best time. Roetsch’s time of 25 minutes 8.1 seconds slashed more than five minutes off the previous mark set by Norway’s Eirik Kvalfoss . when he won the 1984 Olympic title. He finished 19th yesterday. The 10km biathlon has been part of the Winter Olympics only since 1980 and Roetsch, aged 23, became the first man to hold Olympic titles over both distances.