'Deeply sad': Winter Olympics rocked by scary finish line incident

The Winter Olympics were rocked by scary scenes on Sunday when Norway's Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold collapsed at the finish line of the biathlon.

With one kilometre remaining in the women’s 10km pursuit, Tandrevold was pushing her way towards a third-place finish.

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But Tandrevold started labouring in the final metres of the race, finished way back in 14th and collapsing as she crossed the finish line.

Fellow Norwegian Marte Olsbu Roieseland had been ahead and clear en route to her third gold of the Games, but Tandrevold was locked in battle with Swede Elvira Oeberg behind her.

With only around 300m to go, Oeberg forged clear as Tandrevold came to a virtual standstill.

She recovered enough to start gliding, but skier after skier passed her and Tiril Eckhoff took bronze before Tandrevold eased across the line.

Such was the sudden nature of the turnaround that the Eurosport TV commentator called Tandrevold as the bronze medallist, not realising his mistake until minutes after the race.

Tandrevold immediately collapsed to the snow and needed lengthy medical attention before getting to her feet and being carried away.

"She tried as hard as she could and she did everything to follow Elvira," Norway team doctor Lars Kolsrud told journalists.

"She went empty on top of the hill and hardly got to the finishing line. When she got there she was very sad and sorry, because she lost this medal and she was all empty for power.

"She was not unconscious but she was very, very exhausted. She said nothing except: 'I've spoiled everything'."

Fans sent their well-wishes to Tandrevoid on social media.

Conditions cause havoc at Winter Olympics

A relay gold medallist at the last three world championships, Tandrevold finished fifth and eighth in the sprint and individual Olympic races in Beijing and had been hoping to take part in two further events.

"We will talk to her and see her and see that she get the proper food and proper drink tonight and then the days that follow and we have to decide whether she should compete anymore," Kolsrud said.

It was a grim ending to an incredibly difficult biathlon run in blinding snow, with multiple events postponed on Sunday because of the conditions.

"The conditions were very heavy,” bronze medalist Eckhoff said afterward.

“There was a lot of snow, and a lot of slow snow. It was a tough race and I had to work my ass off to get a medal."

Silver medalist Oeberg said: "It's probably one of the hardest pursuits I've ever raced.

“The conditions were extremely slow and the snow was a lot softer today, so it was so tough.”

with Reuters and Yahoo Sports US

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