Enlarge image
Benedict Doll
Photo:
KIM HONG-JI / REUTERS
The German biathlon men were not able to repeat the gold coup of Olympic champion Denise Herrmann in the individual.
On Tuesday in Zhangjiakou, Benedikt Doll was the best of the four German starters in sixth place and missed his chances of winning a medal with two missed shots.
The last one in standing deprived him of the possible silver medal.
Speedy Frenchman Quentin Fillon Maillet, despite two penalties, clinched the Olympic victory in the 20K race, where each missed shot carries a penalty minute, ahead of the clean-shooting Anton Smolski of Belarus, 14.8 seconds back.
Norway star Johannes Thingnes Bø saved bronze from two penalties, 31.1 seconds back.
He had won gold in the supreme discipline four years ago.
Doll was 1:07.1 minutes behind, Roman Rees was seventh with 1:21.6 minutes more than the winner with only one shooting error.
Erik Lesser and Johannes Kühn had no chance after early mistakes.
Kühn withdrew from the medal race at the first shooting and missed two more after the first attempt.
As in the women's singles, the conditions were better because the wind wasn't blowing so hard.
In the end, the 30-year-old from Reit im Winkl, who had already been successful in the sprint in the World Cup this winter, even collected six penalty minutes.
Erik Lesser with three penalties
Doll also immediately missed a prone shot, only a little later Lesser made three standing mistakes after a flawless start and thus already lost all chances.
Lesser had won silver in Sochi eight years ago.
Doll could have come close to medals but missed a target in the final standing stage.
Rees, with just one penalty, was the top German shooter, but not fast enough for a top spot.
Johannes Thingnes Bø, who had saved Norway the gold in the mixed relay, made a mistake in prone and chased the Russian Maxim Zwetkow, who had started ahead of him, who shot flawlessly for a long time, but was not that fast on the track.
There the biathlon superstar from Norway overtook before the second shooting and tried to extend his lead.
Bø also made a mistake in the last standing stage, but because Zwetkow missed the 20th shot, the Russian missed the chance of a possible Olympic victory.
In the end, Zwetkow was 3.8 seconds short of bronze.
Fillon Maillet was even faster.
The 29-year-old stormed to the top almost unnoticed, despite making two blunders on the shooting range.
In the mixed relay on Saturday he had to admit defeat to Bø in the final sprint.
Smolski was rewarded for his clean shooting with the silver medal.
ara/dpa