Oceane Michelon of France battled through two misses in the range to score gold in the women’s 12.5km race in the final biathlon event of the Milan Cortina Winter Games.
The gold is the 23-year-old Michelon's first. France's Julia Simon won silver 6.6 seconds behind, and the bronze medal winner was Tereza Vobornikova of Czechia, 7.4 seconds behind.
The pack was really stretched out at the start of the race. The initial leaders were those that shot clean in the first range visit as the athletes who faced a penalty loop chased after them.
In the next prone range visit, Simon shot with precision and left the range we a one-second lead while Michelon had one miss.
The French trio of Simon, Lou Jeanmonnot, and Michelon went into the third shooting range first. Michelon was able to bounce back with clean shooting and emerge as one of the leaders, followed by Elvira Oeberg of Sweden and Lora Hristova of Bulgaria.
With one more visit in the range to go, Michelon missed again and was forced to complete a penalty lap.
As Vobornikova kept up her pace, the fearsome French athletes skied to close the gap. It was an intense moment as the two passed Vobornikova to claim the top of the podium. The Czechia athlete, who has yet to make it to a World Cup podium, held on for bronze.
In the women’s 12.5km mass start, 30 competitors skied five laps totaling 12.5km (7.8 miles), shooting in prone twice and standing twice. Any missed targets resulted in a 150m penalty loop.
At the Anterselva Biathlon Arena, heavy snow was falling, but there was no wind to impact the skiers in the range.
There were no Americans competing in the race.