ANTERSELVA, Italy (AP) — A post-race interview with the bronze medal winner in the men's Olympic biathlon competition on Tuesday took an unexpected turn when he revealed in a live broadcast that he had been unfaithful to his girlfriend.
Sturla Holm Laegreid, one of Norway's top biathletes, finished third in the 20-kilometer individual race, but was full of remorse when he spoke to Norwegian broadcaster NRK at the Milan Cortina Games.
“Six months ago I met the love of my life. The world’s most beautiful, sweetest person. And three months ago I made the biggest mistake of my life and cheated on her,” Laegreid said, fighting back tears.
He said he told his partner a week ago about what had happened.
“I’m sure many people now see me in a different light, but I only have eyes for her,” he said. “I’m not quite sure what I’m trying to say by saying this now, but sport has taken a back seat in recent days. I wish I could share this with her.”
Laegreid's teammate Johan-Olav Botn shot perfectly in his Olympic debut to secure the gold medal while Eric Perrot of France, the overall World Cup leader, missed one shot and finished 14.8 seconds behind Botn to take silver. Laegreid also missed one target and was 48.3 seconds behind, taking the bronze.
It was Laegreid's first individual Olympic medal. He was part of the relay team that took gold at the Beijing Olympics.
But instead of celebrating, he was distraught, crying and hugging friends, after the race. During a news conference he explained why he decided to tell the world about his personal situation on the TV broadcast.
“It was the choice I made. We make different choices during our life and that's how we make life,” he told a room full of journalists. “So today I made a choice to tell the world what I did, so maybe, maybe there is a chance she will see what she really means to me. Maybe not.”
He said he felt bad about upstaging his teammate with his deeply personal news.
“Now I hope I didn’t ruin Johan’s day," he said. "Maybe it was really selfish of me to give that interview. I’m not really here, mentally.”
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
ADDS NAME OF TEAMMATE - Sturla Holm Laegreid, of Norway, reacts after he won bronze as teammate Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold comforts him after the men's 20-kilometer individual biathlon race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Anterselva, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Sturla Holm Laegreid, of Norway, reacts after he won bronze in the men's 20-kilometer individual biathlon race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Anterselva, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — Perched in the snow-covered Italian Alps, Patti Sherman-Kauf fondly remembers how, four years before, in another valley and a world away in Wyoming, she glowed with pride watching a line of headlights approach in the middle of the night.
Those cars were full of family and friends coming to gather around a television and watch her daughter, freestyle skier Jaelin Kauf, compete in moguls at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games. Bedlam broke out in the bar owned by her father when Jaelin won the silver medal.
“It was a line, at 1:30 in the morning, snaking through the valley up to the bar for the watch party,” Sherman-Kauf recalled. "There were like 150 people there watching in this little bar. Being able to watch it on TV with all our friends and family, that was amazing.”
But, she told The Associated Press, nothing compares to breathing in the frosty alpine air, standing at the foot of a ski course and cheering on Jaelin as she shows her speed, agility and aerial stunts at the 2026 Winter Olympics, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic had stopped her loved ones from accompanying her to China.
In Livigno, Sherman-Kauf is joined by Jaelin’s father and brother, and about 30 more people who had also been at that bar back in Alta, Wyoming, right on the Idaho border. Besides that hard-core group waving “J" for Jaelin signs, there were dozens more family members of Team USA skiers, most decked out in red-while-and-blue caps, coats, scarves and sweaters. And everybody cheered for everyone, regardless of the country they represented.
"Freestyle is a big family,” Sherman-Kauf said, taking a moment to give her daughter a hug before she joined her teammates atop the slope.
Jaelin’s long-standing motto is “deliver the love.”
That reminder to just embrace what she does, despite the outcome, is there written on her helmet.
On Tuesday, Jaelin was on the receiving end of that love delivery.
“I could see all the Js waving from up in the start gate and could hear them cheering for me down here. I love having them around. They give me so much energy,” Jaelin said after completing her qualifying run.
Turns out that the 29-year-old, who made her Olympic debut in 2018 with her family there to support her, is going to need some more of those positive vibrations to keep her quest for another medal alive.
A costly wobble on her qualifying run wrecked her score, which is based on a skier’s execution of those hip-swiveling “turns” used to navigate the bumpy slope, along with the difficulty of two acrobatic jumps, and the time. She finished 27th of 29 riders, missing out on the top 10 who advanced to the final.
She has another shot, though. On Wednesday, she can advance to the final if she finishes among the top 10 skiers of the 20 who failed to advance the day before. The final is later the same day.
“The plan for tomorrow is to just put down some my runs,” Jaelin said. “Obviously, you know, like going for gold out here.”
Jaelin, who has a world championship title in dual moguls and over 50 World Cup podiums, has been here before.
She even has moguls in the blood.
Both Sherman-Kauf and Jaelin’s father, Scott Kauf, are multiple-time champions in the freestyle discipline from the 1980s and ’90s.
Now, at an active 62, Sherman-Kauf said “you couldn’t pay me to get on this course,” while craning her neck to look up at the huge slope where her daughter and the other skiers pound their way down the back-breaking, knee-bending bumps only interrupted by the two ramps where they launch into twisting leaps.
But will she still give her daughter some advice for the do-or-die second round of qualifying on Wednesday
Never.
“A hug and have fun is all,” Sherman-Kauf said. “It’s her thing and not ours, because she gets a lot of, ‘Oh, your parents were skiers,’ and that’s all great, the history and all that, but this is her thing, right?
"We’re not Olympic medalists."
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
A stuffed monkey is seen on the backpack of United States' Jaelin Kauf before the women's freestyle skiing moguls qualifications at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Friends and family hold signs in support of United States' Jaelin Kauf before the women's freestyle skiing moguls qualifications at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
United States' Jaelin Kauf competes during the women's freestyle skiing moguls qualifications at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
United States' Jaelin Kauf looks on during the women's freestyle skiing moguls qualifications at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Friends and family hold a sign for United States' Jaelin Kauf before the women's freestyle skiing moguls qualifications at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
