The celebration following Sturla Holm Lægreid’s bronze medal in the 20-kilometer biathlon at Anterselva took an unexpected turn on Tuesday, February 10, 2026, as the Norwegian athlete publicly revealed a personal struggle.
Lægreid finished third behind teammate Johan-Olav Botn, who claimed the gold medal. Botn’s victory marked a career highlight.
“It’s huge. It’s my first Olympic medal and I want to thank everyone who has helped me along the way,” an emotional Lægreid told NRK.
However, the interview quickly shifted as Lægreid made a stunning confession:
“There’s someone who might not be watching today. Six months ago, I met the love of my life. The most beautiful, wonderful person and three months ago I made the biggest mistake of my life and cheated on her.”
See the initial interview here:
Sturla Holm Lægreid took bronze on the 20-kilometer race. Then the interview took an unexpected turn.
“Completely Wrong Time and Place”
Experts in the NRK Olympic studio reacted to the unfolding situation.
“You know Sturla well. What’s going on that causes him to break down like that on air?”
“Sturla is a very emotional person, and we’ve seen that affect him hard this past week. He’s been trying to mobilize and remove those feelings and focus on being professional,” said Johannes Thingnes Bø. “He almost pulls off gold, he gets a bronze….”
“With Sturla, the emotions are right on the surface. He can’t hide it. I think it just spilled out. I don’t know if he had planned to say that, or how he feels about his actions afterward.”
Former cross-country skier Therese Johaug also weighed in.
“I’ve never seen an interview like that before. It’s just completely the wrong time and place to say something like that. I agree with Johannes,” Johaug stated.
Lars Elton Myhre, NRK’s alpine skiing expert, also in the studio, echoed those sentiments.
TEAMMATES: Johannes Thingnes Bø and Sturla Holm Lægreid have been teammates and know each other well.
“Sorry if I Ruined Your Day”
The unexpected revelation also dominated the subsequent press conference, with questions focusing as much on Lægreid’s admission as on gold medalist Johan Olav Botn.
“Sturla can do whatever he wants when he’s in the mixed zone. I don’t interfere with that. For me, this is first and foremost a personal and emotional victory. How much column space I get doesn’t matter to me,” Botn said.
Lægreid then interjected:
“Then I’ll add: sorry if I ruined your day.”
“But I think he (Botn) understands,” Lægreid continued:
“I don’t want to steal the spotlight today.”
PRESS CONFERENCE: Botn and Lægreid met the press after the race.
Foto: Heiko Junge / NTB
“We’ve Noticed It a Bit With Him”
NRK met with Lægreid again after the medal ceremony.
“I knew what I was going to say in the mixed zone regardless. I decided that yesterday. When I win a medal, maybe the message will be stronger. Not many people know what I’ve been through. Now the whole world might know, but there have been a lot of thoughts in my head these past few days,” Lægreid said.
“Why did you choose to say what you did?”
“Well, say it. I have nothing to lose. I had a chance at true love and messed it up unbelievably. It might not be forgiven. But if this can give me even a tiny chance to tell her how much I love her, I’ll commit social suicide on live TV just to get that little chance.”
“It’s really no one knows who this woman is?”
“No, no one. I don’t want to say who it is, because I don’t want to give her more stress in the middle of this. She has enough to process from last week’s message, but I hope there’s light at the end of the tunnel for both of us. And that she can still love me,” Lægreid said.
He further explained that he told the woman about the infidelity last week.
“Were you thinking about her? How she would react when she heard you tell the whole of Norway?”
“Yes, I don’t know how it is for her,” Lægreid replied.
“Maybe I ruined it for myself now to endeavor and win her back. I don’t know,” he added.
Sturla Holm Lægreid explains why he revealed his infidelity.
Teammate Johannes Dale-Skjevdal said that Lægreid had confided in him about the situation.
“We knew that, yes. I don’t have many comments on that now. It’s good that he’s open about it, and if he wants to talk about things, that’s fine, but I think it’s difficult to comment on it,” Dale-Skjevdal said.
Martin Uldal was unaware of Lægreid’s situation.
“I’ve noticed it a bit with him, that he’s been a little different, but I haven’t really known why. I thought it was maybe just nerves. It’s very sad to hear, a really tough situation. We’ll comfort him,” Uldal added.
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EMOTIONAL: Sturla Holm Lægreid with the bronze medal around his neck.
Foto: Heiko Junge / NTB
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EMOTIONAL: Lægreid was visibly affected on the podium.
Foto: Heiko Junge / NTB
“A Difficult Season”
Lægreid has had a challenging season on the World Cup circuit and was left off the mixed relay team earlier in the Olympics.
The day before the normal race, which ended with a bronze medal, he was honest about not having high expectations for himself.
“I’m not going to hide the fact that I don’t have high expectations for myself. But I also understand that I’m a kind of underdog now after the way the season has been. I hadn’t expected to be in a position here, but maybe that’s the chance I have at the Olympics to win a medal,” Lægreid told NRK on Monday.
He proved his own predictions wrong when he hit 19 of 20 targets and secured a Norwegian one-two-three on the podium.
“Sturla hasn’t had the best season. But since he broke through, he’s been among our best biathletes. And today he delivered,” said NRK biathlon expert Johannes Thingnes Bø in the NRK studio.
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