Fourcade shoots France to first Games medal

ROSA KHUTOR, Russia (Reuters) - Martin Fourcade shot France to their first medal of the Sochi Winter Games on Monday with his victory in the biathlon 12.5km pursuit.

(Reuters)

Overall World Cup leader Fourcade, starting sixth, shot an almost perfect 19 out of 20 and produced an impressive display on the skis to beat silver medallist Ondrej Moravec of the Czech Republic by 14.1 seconds.

Another Frenchman, Jean-Guillaume Beatrix, came back from 14th on the starting line to claim bronze and deny Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen a record-breaking 13th Winter Games medal.

Fourth-placed Bjoerndalen, who had carried his time advantage into the pursuit after winning Saturday's sprint, made three mistakes in the shooting.

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Peter Rutherford)