Bronze medalist Tiril Eckhoff of Norway stands on the podium after the Women's Biathlon 10km Pursuit at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics in Zhangjiakou, China, on Sunday. On Friday, she won silver in the women's mass start biathlon race. Photo by Bob Strong/UPI |
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Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Justine Braisaz-Bouchet of France was able to fight against the gusty winds on Friday to win the women's 12.5-kilometer (7.7 miles) mass start biathlon race. Norwegians Tiril Eckhoff and Marte Olsbu Roeiseland took silver and bronze, respectively.
In the race, 30 skiers simultaneously took off from the starting line and raced the cross country course at Zhangjiakou National Biathlon Center. During the race, they had to stop four times to shoot at five targets with misses resultingin having to ski a 492-foot penalty loop.
Not one of the 30 skiers in the biathlon race were able to be perfect in the shooting range with the wind causing them to repeatedly miss targets with the best shooting of the day being by Yuliia Dzhima who had three errors.
Despite missing two targets at her first prone shooting attempt, Braisaz-Bouchet would only incur two more misses during her three other stops at the range, allowing her to use her strong skiing to secure a decent lead in the back half of the race.
While she neared the end of the race, the 25-year-old two-time Olympian was all smiles with no one around her. As she crossed the finish line in a time of 40 minutes 18 seconds, she waved a French flag.
"What an incredible performance in those tough conditions," the International Biathlon Union said on Twitter.
With the victory, Braisaz-Bouchet becomes the first French woman to win the event.
Crossing the finish line 15 seconds later was Eckhoff who was followed nearly 35 seconds later by Roeiseland.
Eckhoff adds the silver to the gold she won in the mixed 4x6-kilometer relay and the bronze from the women's 10-kilometer pursuit, both in Beijing. She has won a total eight Olympic medals, including two gold, in her three Olympic appearances.
For Roeiseland, the bronze medal makes her the first woman to win five biathlon medals in a single Olympic Winter Games as she had already won three golds and a bronze.
From her two Olympic appearances, she has seven medals.
Silver medalist Elvira Oeberg of Sweden (L), gold medalist Marte Olsbu Roeiseland of Norway and bronze medalist Tiril Eckhoff of Norway stand on the podium after the women's biathlon 10-kilometer pursuit at the Beijing Winter Olympics in Zhangjiakou, China, on February 13, 2022. Photo by Bob Strong/UPI |
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