12.5 kilometres Mass Start, Women1

Because of the expected cold temperatures and an icy wind, the organizers decided to bring the women’s mass start race forward by one day. Treacherous gusts at the shooting range blew away the prospects of several favourites in the supreme discipline of biathlon. The beneficiary was Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, who won the first gold for the French female biathletes at these Games, and crossed the finish line waving the tricolour. She won with a comfortable margin of 15.3 seconds over Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff. Norway also won bronze, as Marte Olsbu Røiseland finished third.

All three medallists, and the fourth placed Markéta Davidová, each had four shooting penalties. Only Yuliya Dzhima from Ukraine had less than four penalties, but she finished seventh.

Braisaz-Bouchet is only the second woman representing France to win an individual event in biathlon at the Winter Olympics. She laid the foundation for her victory on the third standing stage, where she was the only one in the top eight to shoot clean.

Tiril Eckhoff had an excellent start with two clean shoots. She was also the fastest skier but lost her advantage with long shooting times owing to the unpredictable wind. Nevertheless, she won silver, which was her third medal in the event, having captured bronzes in 2014 and 2018. She also completed a full set of medals in biathlon at Beijing, adding the silver to the gold she won in the mixed relay, and the pursuit bronze.

Olsbu Røiseland was among the top three throughout the competition. She was only 1.5 seconds behind Eckhoff after the final shooting, but could never close the gap and eventually lost another 18.1 seconds on the final loop. Olsbu Røiseland was the outstanding female biathlete of the Winter Games with three gold and two bronze medals.