VIDEO ⟩ “It’s extremely dangerous…” Belgian biathlete comes under fire after reckless action on firing line

In the second lap of the relay, Langer was in trouble: he fell on the track and damaged his rifle. In addition, the end of the gun barrel was full of snow. It was difficult to clean. The sportsman put the end of the rifle to his mouth to blow it, clean the snow.

Double zero by Thierry Langer who tastes heroic #Biathlon #POK23 pic.twitter.com/n4Slm9mmK0

— Leonardo (@Leonardo44447) January 8, 2023

Based on the rules, he had to raise his hand in the shooting range and alert the judges about the problem. The judges would give him a backup weapon. The judges did that, however, after the athlete’s own attempts to resolve the situation.

In the rush of the competition, the 31-year-old biathlete decided to do it himself and started cleaning the barrel with a stick. In replays of the broadcast, the Belgian can be seen repeatedly poking the barrel pointed directly at his face with a stick.

He then managed to shoot the target with the spare gun without using any additional rounds.

The biathlete himself later admitted that, of course, he had removed the cartridges from his weapon before starting to clean it.

Olympic champion Bjorn Ferri was outraged by what he saw.

“It’s extremely life-threatening. You shouldn’t point the barrel of a rifle at your face. It’s a disaster,” said Ferri, who works as a pundit for Sweden’s National Broadcasting Company.

The Belgian’s actions were also condemned by Norwegian commentators and biathletes.

Langer passed the baton in 21st place, and the team he represented finished in tenth place. France won the relay race, ahead of the Italian and Swedish teams (by 24.6 and 47.2 seconds, respectively).