Thompson Becomes First American to Win International Biathlon Medal

Josh Thompson of Gunnison, Colo., became the first American to win a medal in any worldwide biathlon competition when he finished second in the men’s 20-kilometer Thursday at the World Biathlon Championships. East Germany’s Frank-Peter Roetsch won the event.

Thompson, 24, hit 19 of 20 targets and had the second-fastest skiing time in a sport that combines cross-country skiing with target shooting. He covered the 12.4-mile course in 59 minutes 51 seconds. A one-minute penalty for missing the target gave him an overall time of 1:00:51.

“Josh’s performance is on a par with Bill Koch’s silver medal in the (1976) Innsbruck Olympics,” American team leader John Morton said.

Other Americans were far back. Raimond Dombrovskis of Seattle finished 26th, Willie Carow of Putney, Vt., was 47th and Glen Eberle of McCall, Idaho, placed 50th.

Roetsch won the gold with a ski time of 59:00.40 and one miss in 20 target shots. His overall time was 1:00.40.

Thompson was 12th in the 20-kilometer event last year and eighth last month at a World Cup event in Italy.

Jan Matous of Czechoslovakia was third overall with 20 of 20 shots hitting the target and a ski time of 1:01:15.30. Defending champion Valery Medvetsev of the Soviet Union finished fourth.

Sixty-eight athletes from 21 nations competed.