He may have come in dead last at the 12.5 km mass start biathlon today, but Kingston native Jean-Philippe Le Guellec can still claim the title of best Canadian biathlete in Games history.
Le Guellec wowed fans at the beginning of these Games by placing sixth in the 10 km sprint his best placing ever in a World Cup, world championships or Olympic Games.
The triumph cooled somewhat with a follow-up 11th place finish in the 12-km pursuit, and for his finale Le Guellec finished last in the 30-man line-up of which 27 remained after missing seven out of 20 targets.
"I shot everywhere but in the target," he said.
However LeGuellec's standing still marks a Canadian best since it's the first time a Canadian has gotten this far, and only the second time a Canadian has competed in the 15-km mass start.
Assistant coach Jean Paquet believes LeGuellec has proven he belongs with the elite.
And skiing behind the Norwegian legend Ole Einar Bjoerndalen was a great experience, said Le Guellec.
"I'm still really young. There's a lot to learn. I was with Ole today on the track and learned a ton skiing behind him," said LeGuellec.
Bu the delight would not be shared by Bjoerndalen, who has 10 Olympic medals under his belt, the last of which he earned last week as second place finisher in the 20-km classic.
His stated goal for 2010 was two medals, however he came in a devastating 24th place.
A shocked Evgeny Ustyugov of Russia shot a perfect 20 for 20 to earn gold in 35 minutes 35.7 seconds.
"Honestly, after the last Olympics I wouldn't even have dreamt that I would be here," he said. "A gold was in my distant dreams, anything can happen at an Olympics and it happened today."
France's Martin Fourcade was the faster skier, but missed three shots to win silver, 35 minutes 48.2 seconds. It was France's fifth silver of the biathlon events, a first for the country.
"It's a childhood dream to win a medal and when you realize it is going to happen to you, it feels amazing," said Fourcade. "I was going for bronze, but realised I had a chance for silver and hung in."
Slovakia's Pavol Hurajt shot perfectly for bronze, and came in 16.6 seconds behind.
