Kuzmina tastes third Winter Olympic gold in biathlon mass start

Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia celebrates after crossing the finishing line of women's 12.5km mass start event of biathlon at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games at Alpensia Biathlong Centre, PyeongChang, Feb. 17, 2018. Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia claimed champion in a time of 35:23.0. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)

Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia won personal third gold medal at the Winter Olympic Games with her victory in biathlon women's 12.5km mass start here on Saturday.

Kuzmina has equalled for the most gold medals in Summer and Winter Games representing Slovakia, after she clocked a match-best 35 minutes and 23 seconds with just one penalty in shooting.

Kuzmina became the second biathlete and the first woman to win an individual medal in all four events after Norway's legend Ole Einar Bjoerndalen.

"This race was really hard for me, and I was really tired, but now I am so happy," said Kuzmina, 10km pursuit and 15km individual silver medalist in PyeongChang.

"I was happy with two silvers, but today I was really relaxed and wasn't thinking about if I win a medal. I just competed, and enjoyed this race," she added.

Defending champion Darya Domracheva of Belarus finished second. Norway's Tiril Eckhoff sat third, the same result as four years ago in Sochi.