If he had been just a half-minute faster, Ilmārs Bricis might have won a bronze medal. Instead, the Latvian biathlon star had to settle for fourth place in the men’s 12.5-kilometer pursuit event Feb. 18 during the Winter Olympics in Turin.

Bricis finished the course in 26.7 seconds behind behind gold medal winner Vincent Defrasne of France, whose time was 35 minutes, 20.2 seconds, according to the official Web site of the Winter Olympics, www.torino2006.org.

The silver medal went to Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway and the bronze to Sven Fischer of Germany.

Latvia’s Jānis Bērziņš finished 44th in the event, 5:02.6 behind the leader, while Raivis Zīmelis finished 48th, 5:37.8 behind the leader, and Kristaps Lībietis finished 56th, 8:31.0 behind.

In 2002 during the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Bricis finished a disappointing 51st in the pursuit event.

Also on Feb. 18, Latvian biathlete Madara Līduma finished 20th in the women’s 10-kilometer pursuit event. Her time was 4 minutes, 7.2 seconds behind gold medal winner Kati Wilhelm of Germany, who finished the course in 36:43.6. The silver medal went to Martina Glagow of Germany and Russia’s Albina Akhatova earned the bronze.

Anžela Brice of Latvia was lapped and knocked from the competition.