Norway's Emil Hegle Svendsen shot perfectly to win the men's biathlon 15km mass start after a photo finish at the Winter Olympic Games on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old timed 42 minutes 29.1 seconds for the gold while Martin Fourcade of France, the winner of the pursuit and individual events in Sochi, missed two targets and clocked the same time as Svendsen did.

In the race which had been repeatedly postponed due to bad weather, Svendsen was given the gold by a slim lead on the photo. Fourcade had to settle for the silver.

Ondrej Moravec of the Czech Republic took the bronze in 42:42.9.

Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, gunning for a record 13th medal at Winter Olympics, finished 22nd after missing four targets.

He still has a chance for a new record in the biathlon relays.