ANTERSELVA, Italy (AP) — Lisa Vittozzi secured Italy's first Olympic gold medal in biathlon, hitting all 20 targets in the 10-kilometer pursuit biathlon race at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on Sunday.
Vittozzi bowed, pumped her arms and collapsed in the snow after crossing the finish line with a time of 30 minutes, 11.8 seconds to the roar of a crowd of 20,000 fans.
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CORRECTS BYLINE: Gold medalist Lisa Vittozzi, of Italy, poses with teammates after the women's 10-kilometer pursuit biathlon race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Anterselva, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Suvi Minkkinen, of Finland, competes during the women's 10-kilometer pursuit biathlon race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Anterselva, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Maren Kirkeeide, of Norway, reacts after winning a silver medal in the women's 10-kilometer pursuit biathlon race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Anterselva, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Lisa Vittozzi, of Italy, bows as she wins gold during the women's 10-kilometer pursuit biathlon race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Anterselva, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Lisa Vittozzi, of Italy, reacts after crossing the finish line to win gold during the women's 10-kilometer pursuit biathlon race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Anterselva, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Maren Kirkeeide of Norway missed three targets but trailed by just 28.8 seconds for silver. Suvi Minkkinen of Finland cleared all 20 targets and came in 34.3 seconds back for bronze.
Vittozzi overcame a back injury from last season and periods of inconsistent shooting to become an Olympic champion.
“It’s amazing to win here in front of my family and friends,” she said. "It was my dream, and now I have the gold medal. I will need some time to realize what I have done today. I am very happy. I am enjoying this moment, because I will remember it forever.”
Vittozzi was on the Italian team, with Tommaso Giacomel, Lukas Hofer and Dorothea Wierer, that won silver in the mixed relay a week ago.
Wierer started the pursuit race in 44th place, 2:12 back having missed three targets in Saturday’s sprint race. She only missed one shot in the pursuit and finished ninth, 1:30 back.
Kirkeeide said winning a second Olympic medal was amazing, and it was "really fun to be able to race here and to be fighting for the top spot.”
“The last shooting was really hard for me," she said. "My legs were shaking, but I tried my best, and on the last lap, I tried to push with everything I had to be able to earn a medal.”
The last shooting stage was difficult — she missed two under great pressure, she said.
“Mostly the fact that I was shooting for a gold medal," she said. "You really want to hit all the targets. Sometimes it’s not so easy.”
Minkkinen said her goal for these Games was to win a medal.
“At the same time it's only three athletes who get it," she said. "Then I just try to focus on doing the race I can be happy with myself afterward. Today I was able to do a perfect race so it’s an amazing feeling to really get the medal here.”
The pursuit was the first race that France did not have a biathlete on the podium.
French biathletes Oceane Michelon and Lou Jeanmonnot started second and third, respectively, but too many misses knocked them out of contention. Jeanmonnot missed three and finished fourth, 49.4 seconds back, while Michelon missed four, which set her 57.1 seconds behind Vittozzi for fifth place.
The pursuit biathlon start list is based on how the racers finished in the sprint race. Biathletes must ski a 150-meter penalty lap for each missed target.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
CORRECTS BYLINE: Gold medalist Lisa Vittozzi, of Italy, poses with teammates after the women's 10-kilometer pursuit biathlon race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Anterselva, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Suvi Minkkinen, of Finland, competes during the women's 10-kilometer pursuit biathlon race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Anterselva, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Maren Kirkeeide, of Norway, reacts after winning a silver medal in the women's 10-kilometer pursuit biathlon race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Anterselva, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Lisa Vittozzi, of Italy, bows as she wins gold during the women's 10-kilometer pursuit biathlon race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Anterselva, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Lisa Vittozzi, of Italy, reacts after crossing the finish line to win gold during the women's 10-kilometer pursuit biathlon race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Anterselva, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (AP) — A man with a rifle who crashed into a large Michigan synagogue in what federal officials are saying was an attack had lost four family members in an Israeli airstrike in his native Lebanon last week, an official said Friday.
Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Lebanon, was killed by security after ramming into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township near Detroit, Michigan, and driving down a hallway in a vehicle that then caught fire, according to authorities.
The FBI, which is leading the investigation, described the attack on one of the nation’s largest Reform synagogues as an act of violence targeting the Jewish community.
The synagogue’s staff, teachers and 140 children at its early childhood center were not injured, according to Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard.
Ghazali came to the U.S. in 2011 on an immediate relative visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen and was granted U.S. citizenship in 2016, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
An Israeli airstrike killed four people in the eastern Lebanon town of Mashgharah on March 5, Lebanon's state agency and the Lebanese Health Ministry reported. A woman was also wounded.
A local official in Mashgharah told The Associated Press that Ghazali's two brothers and a niece and nephew were killed at their home in the airstrike just after sunset as they were having their fast-breaking meal during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The official, who requested anonymity because he could not publicly discuss details of the airstrike, told the AP that Kassim and Ibrahim Ghazali were killed, along with Ibrahim Ghazali's children, Ali and Fatima. Ibrahim Ghazali's wife was seriously wounded and remains in the hospital, the official said.
The official said that Kassim Ghazali was a well-known soccer coach and personal trainer while Ibrahim was a school bus driver in the village.
The official said that Ayman Ghazali's father was in the U.S. and returned to Lebanon recently.
In the minutes after the attack, smoke billowed from the synagogue. One security officer was hit by the vehicle and knocked unconscious but did not suffer life-threatening injuries, Bouchard said. And 30 law enforcement officers were treated for smoke inhalation.
Cassi Cohen, director of strategic development at Temple Israel, was in the hallway where the crash happened. She described hearing a loud bang and said she grabbed a few staff members, ran into her office and locked the door.
“When I heard the crash, I knew it was bad,” Cohen said.
She said the crash happened near a classroom and, in addition to the children, there were also more than 30 staff members in the synagogue.
Rabbi Arianna Gordon, from Temple Israel, thanked the security team, law enforcement and early childhood teachers for getting the children out safely and reunited with their parents.
About a dozen parents sprinted to get their children soon after authorities cleared the building. Other families were reunited at a nearby Jewish Community Center.
Allison Jacobs, whose 18-month-old daughter is enrolled in Temple Israel’s day care, said she got a message from a teacher saying the children were OK even before she knew what happened.
“There are no words. I was in complete and utter shock,” she said.
Synagogues around the world have been on edge and ramping up security since the U.S. and Israel launched a war with Iran with missile strikes on Feb. 28.
The FBI has warned that Iranian operatives may be planning drone attacks on targets in California. Two men brought explosives to a far-right protest outside the New York mayoral mansion on Saturday. Investigators allege they were inspired by the Islamic State extremist group.
And an assailant drove a car into people outside an Orthodox synagogue in Manchester, England, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. He stabbed two people to death before officers shot and killed him.
President Donald Trump said he had been fully briefed on the attack, calling it a “terrible thing.”
Steven Ingber, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Detroit, said Thursday: “I’d love to say that I’m shocked, that I’m surprised, but I’m not."
The attack was the second at a house of worship in Michigan within the past year. Last September, a former Marine fatally shot four people at a church north of Detroit and set it ablaze. The FBI later said he was motivated by “anti-religious beliefs” against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Oakland County is Michigan’s second-largest county with roughly 1.3 million people. The majority of Detroit-area Jewish residents live there. Temple Israel has 12,000 members, according to its website.
Durkin Richer reported from Washington, D.C., and Mroue reported from Beirut, Lebanon. Associated Press reporters Ed White in Detroit; Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; Eric Tucker in Washington, D.C., and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.
Law enforcement escort families away from the Temple Israel synagogue Thursday, March 12, 2026, in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Law enforcement escort families with children away from the Temple Israel synagogue Thursday, March 12, 2026, in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Law enforcement escort families with children away from the Temple Israel synagogue Thursday, March 12, 2026, in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Law enforcement respond to a call at Temple Israel synagogue Thursday, March 12, 2026, in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Law enforcement respond to a call at Temple Israel synagogue, Thursday, March 12, 2026 in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Corey Williams)
