Timofei Lapshin finishes 20-kilometer biathlon in 76th place

Timofei Lapshin competes in the men's 20-kilometer biathlon at the National Biathlon Centre in Zhangjiakou, China on Tuesday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Korea's Timofei Lapshin finished 76th in the men's 20-kilometer biathlon on Tuesday, falling well behind in the second half of the race after starting in the middle of the pack.

In biathlon, which combines cross-country skiing and shooting, athletes ski between a series of shooting ranges as fast as they can, then shoot at small targets 50 meters away while trying not to be affected by their racing heartbeat.

Lapshin started off in 49th position, but started to fall back after the first round of shooting. He finished the race with a cumulative ski time of 52:13.0, but a slower shooting time took his total time to 57:13.0.

The gold medal went to Quentin Fillon Maillet of with a total time of 48:47.4, with Anton Smolski of Belarus taking silver and Johannes Thingnes Boe of Norway taking bronze.

Lapshin's disappointing result, a huge step down from his 17th-place finish at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, comes a day after Korea's Ekaterina Avvakumova and Kim Seon-su also struggled in the women's event. Avvakumova finished in 73rd place with Kim trailing in 84th.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]