Olympedia – 7.5 kilometres Sprint, Women

The favorite in every biathlon event in Salt Lake City was Swedish star Magdalena Forsberg who had won the last five World Cups, and was in the process of winning her sixth straight in 2001-02. She had won two titles at the 2001 World Championships but the sprint championship had been won German Kati Wilhelm. Wilhelm was a cross-country skier at the 1998 Winter Olympics, but her best finish of 16th in the 30 km led her to switch to biathlon. She was the 18th starter, the first of the favorites to go off, and shot cleanly throughout to finish in 20:41.4. In the 37th start spot, the 1998 silver medalist, Uschi Disl, finished in 20:57.0, missing one target, which cost her the gold medal that would go to Wilhelm.

Forsberg started 58th of 74 starters, but also missed one target, and ended up in third. Salt Lake City would not be kind to her. Considered by most as the greatest female biathlete ever, she would end her career with only two Olympic bronze medals, having already placed third in the 15 km individual event. After winning six overall World Cup titles, and six gold medals at the World Championships, and holding the record for the most World Cup events wins, she would retire after the 2002 season.