Olympic champions Boe and Braisaz-Bouchet triumph in harsh weather.
Johannes Thingnes Bboe 2022 Winter Olympics
As the wind caused havoc on the biathlon course, the number of penalty laps accumulated. Those two athletes who dealt with the pressure best—with the sharpest shooting and the fastest skiing, respectively—won Olympic gold medals.
By winning the mass start race on Friday, Johannes Thingnes Boe joined Norwegian great Ole Einar Bjorndalen as the only men to win four gold medals in a single Winter Games.
It was France’s Justine Braisaz-Bouchet who came out on top in the women’s race, earning her country’s first medal of the Beijing Olympics.
Boe, who is also Norwegian, remarked, “The defining moment was my second prone when I shot clean and I went out in ahead.” After that, I was able to close the gap I needed, and I’ve never looked back.
All of the winners in both competitions maintained a perfect shooting record throughout all four range stations.
During the cross-country skiing portion of the competition, both Boe and Braisaz-Bouchet won despite missing four targets, while many others were penalised five, seven, or even ten loops.
Martin Ponsiluoma of Sweden, who finished second to Boe despite missing only two targets, remarked, “It was incredibly hard in the shooting in the race today.” “Both my shooting and skiing were on point today. My solo effort on the final loop propelled me to second place, and for that I am quite grateful.
In Beijing, Boe won a Record-Tying five Medals, Including Gold.
Besides the 10-kilometer sprint, he also took first place in two relays. The 20-kilometer individual event was where he received bronze.
Four of Bjorndalen’s gold medals came from the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.
When Boe finished the race in 38 minutes, 14.6 seconds, he threw his arms in the air in triumph. Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen of Norway, who missed only three shots (and none in the final shooting stop), beat out Ponsiluoma by 40.3 seconds to win bronze.
Despite entering the race as a heavy favourite, French biathlete Quentin Fillon Maillet missed five shots (including three in the final standing) and finished in a disappointing sixth place. There was a fourth-place finish for him.
Three of Braisaz-early Bouchet’s strokes were missed, but she only missed one more on her way to the finish line, giving her the edge she needed to take the lead and hold onto it. In the end, she ran a 40:18 and took first place.
After the halfway point, “I felt really, really calm, actually,” Braisaz-Bouchet remarked of the race. I told myself, “OK, I’m feeling good on the track, I’m in the front of the race, the mass start, and I’m going to just concentrate on my own race.” Everything went smoothly because I approached everything step by step, and when I got to the shooting, I was completely relaxed.
Marte Olsbu Roeiseland of Norway won bronze, and His Colleague, Tiril Eckhoff, won Ssilver.
As a result, Roeiseland now has five medals from Beijing, three of which are gold.
Roeiseland followed in Bjoerndalen’s footsteps by becoming only the second biathlete in Olympic history to win a medal in all four individual events. The mixed relay was another one of her victories.
Due to predicted low temperatures and strong gusts, the women’s race was shifted from Saturday to Friday, right before the men’s event. Both races on Friday took place in windy conditions and temperatures of -13 degrees Celsius (8.6 degrees Fahrenheit) at the range.
The Athletes have been Weakened by the Bitter Weather and Wind.
Many of them had frost crests around their mouths and were wearing tape to protect their faces from the wind.
Many top runners will go the distance without missing a single shot, while others of their competitors may miss one or two. Unfortunately, in the races held on Friday, many competitors had six or more misses and no one cleaned all four bouts due to the strong winds.
Leaving the range 48 seconds after Braisaz-Bouchet, Eckhoff and Roeiseland both exited with a total of two missed targets. After a frantic pursuit, Eckhoff finished the race only 15.3 seconds behind the French woman.
Eckhoff’s third attempt at shooting was marred by strong winds, and she hesitated for a long time before firing her first shot for fear of making the same mistakes she did during the last race, when she missed the target five times.
“In my mind, I was picturing the same outcome as with the relay. But I was in a good frame of mind, and I made some adjustments,” she said. To alleviate the pain, I tried shifting my weight to my heels and bending at the knees.
I’m Relieved that my Shooting error total was so low.
It could as well have been five, too.”
Roeiseland stopped for a moment too, waiting for the right moment to start adapting.
Roeiseland described the gusts as “so much wind.” As Tiril and I share that space, we might say: (waiting to shoot). I could tell she was breathing because I could tell I was breathing and we both thought, “OK, maybe it (the wind) will be a bit better soon.”
I didn’t know what to do because of the high winds, so I took a shot in the dark and ended up with twice as many frames as I needed.