“This is my first medal in international competition,” said the 22-year-old.

Pauline Machut from France led for half of the 12.5km competition but missed two shots in her final round standing in the shooting range. While she skied two penalty loops, Otcovska took the lead and crossed the finish line in 41 minutes, 11.6 seconds. Even with her penalty loops, Machut stayed in contention for the silver medal in a time of 41 minutes, 32.7 seconds.

“It’s my first selection for an international race, and I did two events,” said Machut. “I was in second place in the mixed team with Axel [Garnier], and this is my second medal in Lake Placid, and I am very happy for that.”

Behind Machut, the final podium spot was up for grabs. Ukraine’s Liliia Steblyna led the second lap (of five), then remained in podium contention after Machut passed her on the third lap. But on the last climb before the finish, France’s Anna Blanc surged by the Ukrainian to win the bronze medal in 41 minutes, 41.1 seconds.

U.S. biathlete Cheresa Bouley, right, leaves the shooting range en route to a 14th-place finish, the best for the U.S. women in Saturday’s mass start at Mount Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

“I had good shooting today, I shot clean my last two times [through the range],” Blanc said. “My last lap was very, very hard because the podium was very close. I finished on the podium, and I am very, very happy.”

It was Blanc’s first medal at the Lake Placid 2023 Games.

“I’m very happy to stand on this podium with my friend [Anna Blanc],” added Machut.

The mass start race came down to the two standing rounds in the range. Otcovska missed three targets her first time through the range in prone. After three penalty loops, the Czech biathlete was chasing at the back of the pack.

“The first lap, I wanted to not fall and just be relaxed to shoot,” said Otcovska. “I had three mistakes, so it didn’t work. But then I was good.”

Blanc also struggled with her prone rounds but shot clean in both standing rounds, moving her into fourth place. On the final lap, she put her head down and worked to catch Steblyna, who was in tears after the race.

In biathlon mass start, the top 30 athletes — based on previous results at these games — start together. They skied five laps of a 2.5km course and stopped in the shooting range four times — twice prone, then twice standing. They had five bullets to hit five targets per round and had to ski around a 150-meter penalty loop for each missed target.

Biathlon competition at the World University Games has now concluded. France and Poland won the most medals with five each, while Kazakhstan, Canada, and the Czech Republic won the most gold medals with two per country.