On home snow in Oslo, Ole Einar Bjørndalen claimed his 20th World Championship gold medal, a tally no biathlete had ever reached before.
An opening leg that broke the field
Bjørndalen skied first for Norway in the men's 4x7.5km relay at Holmenkollen. At 42, he flew around the tracks, his skiing described as brilliant and commanding from the start.
When he handed over to Tarjei Bø, Norway already held control. His leg carved out a 29-second lead, a cushion built on raw speed and clean shooting that Germany had to chase across the next three exchanges.
The closing miles in front of a home crowd
Germany's Simon Schempp cut into the margin late in the anchor leg. Emil Hegle Svendsen, carrying a shrinking gap, arrived at the final prone stage with the race still alive.
He cleaned it. Norway crossed in 1:13:16.8 with six spare rounds, 11.5 seconds ahead of Germany, while Canada took bronze further back.
The gold was Bjørndalen's third medal of the Championships, after silvers in sprint and pursuit, and made him Norway's most successful performer at the home Worlds.
Forty-four medals, and a record still growing
That evening his World Championship tally stood at 44 medals, 20 of them gold. He would stretch it to 45 a year later in Hochfilzen, extending a medal run that had delivered a podium at every Worlds since 1997.
The relay victory placed a final, record-shaping layer onto two decades at the summit of biathlon.
