Beijing Olympics: Braisaz-Bouchet wins gold in 12.5 km mass start
Categories: SPORTS
Justine Braisaz-Bouchet of France managed the rough shooting conditions brilliantly to hold off a twin Norwegian challenge and blaze to victory in the women's Olympic 12.5 km mass start on Friday, the final women's biathlon race of the Games.Tiril Eckhoff, bronze medallist in the last two Olympics, took silver and Norwegian compatriot Marte Olsbu Roeiseland the bronze to add to three golds and a bronze already collected in Beijing. The pair opened up a lead of 33 seconds but that vanished at the first standing shoot as the wind suddenly picked up and caused chaos on the leaderboard.The Norwegians racked up costly misses, and took a long time about it, and had to embark on mentally and physically demanding 150m penalty laps.Braisaz-Bouchet made the most of the window of opportunity at the third shoot to take the lead, quickly increasing it to 15.5 seconds over Roieseland by 8.4 km. "The standing shooting was very challenging, a lot of movements. I tried the best I could so I was satisfied with the result given the circumstances and it's great to be sharing the podium with Tiril."Having come away from Pyeongchang with two silver medals, Roeiseland, a multi-world champion, said Beijing had exceeded her expectations."I dreamt of Olympic gold and it has been more than I thought possible," she said."I will remember it for the rest of my life - these have been fantastic Olympic Games."