Golden Greis

Bjoerndalen's Norway team-mate Halvard Hanevold ripped through the final four kilometres to pip Russia's Sergei Tchepikov for bronze by less than a second.

Slovakia's Marek Matiasko provided one of the shocks of the day as he claimed fifth, throwing away his chances of a medal with a missed target on the final shot of his last visit to the range.

France's Raphael Poiree - current World Cup leader and hotly-tipped to claim his first-ever Olympic gold - was the race's disappointment as he fell to pieces on the range, failing to adapt to difficult early conditions and missing two on his first visit to virtually end his medal hopes in their infancy.

"I don't know what happened," Poiree told Eurosport. "We'll have to sit down and talk about it, it's a bit of a mystery. But I gave everything, so it's not a disappointment. There are four races left and I hope I can do better."

But Greis was supreme in glorious conditions at Cesana San Sicario, overcoming bright sunshine on a tricky range to add only a solitary minute to his time with a missed target on his first standing shoot.

"I'll need five minutes to take it all in and enjoy it. I've been dreaming about this since I was a kid and today I skied an almost perfect race," said Greis, who won at the same venue during last season's World Cup. "After missing one shot I knew I couldn't make another mistake if I wanted to stay in front."

While his Germany team-mates struggled - Ricco Gross next best in 11th and Sven Fischer in 17th - Greis was the image of solidity to set a time of 54:23.0 which proved even too much for the fleet-footed Bjoerndalen.

But only just.

There were question marks over Bjoerndalen's fitness after the Norwegian missed nine World Cup races through illness in the build-up to the Games.

Having missed once on his first two visits to the range, Bjoerndalen proved both mind and body are in fine shape as he bids to add to the clean sweep of four golds he claimed in Salt Lake City.

A clear third shoot and all going well on the fourth had Greis watching nervously.

But a rifle jam left Bjoerndalen with a superhuman 22.7 seconds to make up on Greis, too much even for the great Norwegian who despite a desperate charge crossed the line 16 seconds down.

Frenchman Julien Robert was, ironically, the only man to shoot clear, profiting from his team-mates' initial troubles on the range to adjust his sights and grab sixth.

The home crowd were cheered as Christian de Lorenzi and Wilfried Pallhuber surpassed themselves to claim seventh and ninth respectively, with Russian Ivan Tcherezov squeezed in the middle.

American Jay Hakkinen took a surprise tenth place.

Torino 2006 schedule