France’s Justine Braisaz-Bouchet presented the surprise of the women’s mass start 12.5km from the Beijing Olympics biathlon program after beating two Norwegians, Marte Olsbu Roeiseland and Tiril Eckhoff.
Justine Braisaz-Bouchet turned a total of three penalty laps in the first shots but shot down 9/10 targets straight. The key to the race was the third shot, in which the two Norwegians stayed more than a minute at the border, due to the strong gust of wind.
This allowed many of their pursuers to catch up and ride with them on the fourth lap. However, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet surprisingly decided to give the gas and managed to build a lead of 15.5 seconds before the last visit to the border, which allowed her to shoot more calmly and despite her fourth mistake to reach the gold.
“In the individual and sprint I wanted to do something good, I knew I was capable of it. But I was very bad at shooting, despite the good conditions”, said the gold medalist Justine Braisaz-Bouchet. “When a biathlete does a bad race, it doesn’t mean she’s not good. I really believed in my chances and ended with a big smile. This was the first start of the Olympics, in which I did not think about medals and results. I was happy and lucky to participate in the mass start and I really wanted to do it well, despite the bad conditions. I didn’t think about the Norwegians. My skis were good and I expected to be good on the track. I took my chance and I was really calm today”, added the French biathlete.
The silver medal went to Tiril Eckhoff, who also completed a total of four penalty laps, but finished 15.3 seconds behind the winner despite her strong attack in the last 2.5 km. The bronze went to Marte Olsbu Roeiseland, who failed to match the achievement of her legendary compatriot Ole Einar Bjorndalen of Salt Lake City 2002 and won four gold medals at one Olympics.
In Beijing, the World Cup leader won gold medals in sprint, pursuit, and mixed relay. To them she added both bronze medals from the individual and mass start, and the only start in which she did not win a medal was the women’s relay, in which Tiril Eckhoff’s poor shooting knocked out the Norwegians.
Biathletes now have a week off before the World Cup resumes with the start in Kontiolahti, Finland, which starts on March 3rd with the women’s 4x6km relay.
