The women's mass start of Biathlon 2018 during the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 17 February 2018 in the Alpensia Biathlon Centre. With 30 athletes competing, the event was won by Anastasiya Kuzmina from Slovakia, with Darya Domracheva from Belarus taking the silver medal and Tiril Eckhoff from Norway taking bronze.
Format[]
The competition exists out of five rounds of 2.5 kilometres, broken up by shooting at five targets. Each missed target causes the athlete to have to conduct an additional round of 150 meters. The competitor with the fastest time after 15 kilometres (or additional rounds) is the winner.
Preview[]
Thirty athletes qualified for the event, including the six medalists of the individual events of Biathlon 2018. The biggest favorites for the gold medal were the Olympic gold medalists Laura Dahlmeier and Hanna Oeberg, but Marte Olsbu, who won the silver medal in the sprint, and Anastasiya Kuzmina, five-time Olympic medalist, were definitely in contention, as well. Darya Domracheva had shown that her qualities in skiing were among the best of the entire field, which would come to its right in this longer event. Anais Bescond and Veronika Vitkova were the other two athletes who had won medals in Pyeongchang, but others like Tiril Eckhoff, who won the bronze medal in the previous edition of this event, Kaisa Makarainen, who could become the first woman from Finland to win an Olympic medal in biathlon, and Justine Braisaz were always a challenge for a medal.
Results[]
With all athletes starting at the same time in the final individual event of the biathlon competition, the start conditions were equal for everyone. Quickly after the start, Tatiana Akimova tripped, while Anastasiya Kuzmina tried to take control of the race in front, followed by Denise Herrmann and Kaisa Makarainen. With no real break after a big part of the first lap, Kuzmina was able to take some distance from Herrmann and Makarainen, and this lead was extended after Kuzmina and Herrmann accelerated just before the shooting range. The first round of prone shooting would create the first bigger gaps. Kuzmina also shot the fastest, and she retained a slight lead over Hanna Oeberg and Dorothea Wierer, all without mistakes. Behind them, Marte Olsbu, Darya Domracheva, Mona Brorsson, and others were also not far behind, with 18 out of 30 athletes staying clear.
The lead of Kuzmina was held halfway through the second lap, but the gap with the chasers was still less than 10 seconds, decreasing more and more throughout the lap. Domracheva got closer and closer to Kuzmina, but with 17 skiers still close to each other, any mistake could be costly. Once again, Kuzmina remained without mistakes in the prone shooting, but the same could also be said for Domracheva, Oeberg, and Wierer. Veronika Vitkova and Herrmann were now roughly 20 seconds behind the leader, with another group following at 30 seconds behind her.
The third of five laps would mark the halfway point of the race, with the more difficult standing shooting to go. Kuzmina and Domracheva had been among the fastest skiers of the individual events, and their lead increased more and more throughout the lap. The duo Oeberg and Wierer were now also joined by Herrmann, but almost 30 seconds behind Kuzmina. Kuzmina arrived first at the shooting range for the standing shooting, and retained her perfect record, while Domracheva missed her first shot and was set back. Similarly, some of the nearest chasers of the previous lap also missed a shot, completely changing the look of the provisional standings. Of course Kuzmina retained the lead, but she had 30 seconds on Wierer and around 40 seconds on Vitkova, Lisa Vittozzi, Domracheva, and Marie Dorin Habert. Herrmann missed twice and was set back almost a minute, while Justine Braisaz, another one of the faster skiers, missed three times. Tatiana Akimova, who tripped early on in the race, missed five times and lost almost 3 minutes.
The penultimate lap of the race had Kuzmina with a lead of 40 seconds over Wierer, and another 10 seconds over a group of five competitors, but Wierer fell back in the chasing group throughout the penultimate lap. With a lead of almost 50 seconds, Kuzmina allowed herself to miss once in the final round of shooting, while any of the chasing group would be in serious contention for a medal, granted that they made no mistakes in the shooting round. With this big a lead for Kuzmina, she took her time for her last shooting round, but made her first mistake at her very last shot. While she was going through the penalty round of 150 metres, her direct chasers arrived at the shooting range, with Wierer, Vittozzi, Makarainen, and Dorin Habert all missing at least one shot. This left Kuzmina in the lead with a single lap to go, followed by Domracheva at 25 seconds, Eckhoff at 35 seconds, and Oeberg, Vittozzi, Olsbu, and Wierer at 38 seconds.
The battle for gold seemed decided unless Domracheva was able to compensate 25 seconds on the fastest skier of the day. The silver medal for Domracheva also seemed to be clear, having had some of the fastest laps in the individual events, as well as a 10-second lead over her chasers. However, the battle for bronze could still be close, with Eckhoff having a very small gap. At the first time control of the last lap, these differences were a lot clearer. Kuzmina retained a lead of 17 seconds over Domracheva, with 1 kilometre to go, while Eckhoff now had a lead of 13 seconds over her chasers, almost securing herself of the bronze medal. The definitive rankings were made up at the finish line, with Kuzmina retaining a lead of 18 seconds over Domracheva and 28 seconds over Eckhoff, who were the fastest two skiers of the last lap. 18 seconds behind Eckhoff, Vittozzi won the sprint for fourth place, just in front of Oeberg, Wierer, and Nadezhda Skardino, one of two athletes in the field to remain faultless in her shooting, the other being Monika Hojnisz. Olsbu, Dorin Habert, and Kaisa Makarainen completed the top 10.
Anastasiya Kuzmina won her sixth Olympic medal, and her third gold medal, after the sprint in 2010 and 2014. It was also her first medal in the mass start, now having won a medal in all four individual events. Darya Domracheva won her fifth medal at the Olympic Games, and her first silver, after having won three Olympic titles and one bronze medal. Tiril Eckhoff defended her bronze medal in the mass start in Sochi, winning her fourth Olympic medal in total. Lisa Vittozzi finished just outside the podium as her best Olympic result, while Hanna Oeberg finished for the third time in the top 5. Laura Dahlmeier, who could have become the second biathlete to win a medal in all four individual events, finished 16th.
| Result | Athlete | Nationality | Misses | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Anastasiya Kuzmina | Slovakia | 1 | 35:23.0 |
 |
Darya Domracheva | Belarus | 1 | 35:41.8 |
 |
Tiril Eckhoff | Norway | 2 | 35:50.7 |
| 4 | Lisa Vittozzi | Italy | 2 | 36:08.6 |
| 5 | Hanna Oeberg | Sweden | 1 | 36:09.5 |
| 6 | Dorothea Wierer | Italy | 1 | 36:10.3 |
| 7 | Nadezhda Skardino | Belarus | 0 | 36:10.9 |
| 8 | Marte Olsbu | Norway | 1 | 36:14.6 |
| 9 | Marie Dorin Habert | France | 2 | 36:20.9 |
| 10 | Kaisa Makarainen | Finland | 2 | 36:23.9 |
| 11 | Denise Herrmann | Germany | 2 | 36:27.2 |
| 12 | Franziska Preuss | Germany | 1 | 36:38.9 |
| 13 | Mona Brorsson | Sweden | 1 | 36:55.3 |
| 14 | Veronika Vitkova | Czech Republic | 1 | 36:57.8 |
| 15 | Monika Hojnisz | Poland | 0 | 36:59.2 |
| 16 | Laura Dahlmeier | Germany | 2 | 37:10.1 |
| 17 | Anais Bescond | France | 4 | 37:23.5 |
| 18 | Marketa Davidova | Czech Republic | 3 | 37:23.8 |
| 19 | Valj Semerenko | Ukraine | 1 | 37:39.9 |
| 20 | Justine Braisaz | France | 5 | 37:49.6 |
| 21 | Paulina Fialkova | Slovakia | 4 | 37:52.6 |
| 22 | Linn Persson | Sweden | 2 | 37:54.5 |
| 23 | Lena Haecki | Switzerland | 4 | 38:22.3 |
| 24 | Vita Semerenko | Ukraine | 3 | 38:25.3 |
| 25 | Vanessa Hinz | Germany | 4 | 38:52.4 |
| 26 | Iryna Kryuko | Belarus | 4 | 39:04.0 |
| 27 | Elisa Gasparin | Switzerland | 5 | 39:21.0 |
| 28 | Irene Cadurisch | Switzerland | 4 | 39:44.7 |
| 29 | Anais Chevalier | France | 6 | 40:39.7 |
| 30 | Tatiana Akimova | Olympic Athletes from Russia | 6 | 41:32.4 |
| 2018 Winter Olympic Games | |
|---|---|
| Biathlon 2018 | |
| ← 2014 | 2022 → |
| Men | Women |
| 20 km | 15 km |
| Sprint | Sprint |
| Pursuit | Pursuit |
| Mass start | Mass start |
| Relay | Relay |
| Mixed | |
| Relay | |