Klas Lestander

Klas Lestander (1931 to 2023) was a Swedish biathlete from Arjeplog in Norrbotten who won the first Olympic biathlon event, the men's individual race at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley. He began as a cross-country skier and was also an experienced hunter, which led him to biathlon. In the 1960 race he placed fifteenth of thirty on the skiing course, but he became the first competitor in an international championship to hit all twenty targets, and that clean shooting gave him the gold medal ahead of Aleksandr Privalov, who took bronze after hitting only two of five shots at the final stop. The following year he finished ninth in the individual race at the World Championships in Umeå and took third with the Swedish team, then retired without ever winning a Swedish championship. He lived all his life in Arjeplog, where a square is named after him.