Just across the Swiss boarder in the French ski resort of Les Tuffes, Luka Miskin, Chelsey Johnson and Isabella Moon kicked off Australia’s biathlon campaign in the Women’s 10km Individual. 

The Individual biathlon competition at the Winter Youth Games consists of a 10km ski for women and 12.5km ski for the men, broken up with four rifle shooting stages – two prone (lying down) and two standing, alternating between prone and standing. 

With a great skiing day, Miskin finished in the top half of the field in 47th place, shooting clean in the prone. Johnson had her best ever shooting day, shooting clean in prone and only missing two standing shots to finish 60th. Moon was not far behind in 76th place. 

"It’s really good to get out there, I was super happy with my skiing but shooting was a little rough, there was a bit more wind than we expected today, but overall I’m really happy,” Miskin said. 

“I’ve been doing the IBU Junior circuit, so I’ve actually been racing girls a bit older than here, so I didn’t know what to expect of the standard coming in, but there are certainly some really strong girls here.” 

17-year-old Johnson was a cross country skier, and only moved to biathlon at the end of 2018. On the world stage with hundreds of eyes on her, she set a new shooting personal best, missing only two of the 20 shots. 

“I felt like I really pushed myself today, which was my goal,” Johnson said. 

“I wanted to push myself to my limit and shoot as best as I could, and I only had two misses so I’m super stoked with that. 

“It’s definitely been the best race I’ve competed in so far - having my best race at the Youth Olympics is such good feeling,” the Sydney-sider said. 

With biathlon being a lesser-known sport in Australia, Johnson said the crowd and atmosphere at Les Tuffes was “surreal”. 

“Being in Europe where it’s such a big sport and there’s so many competitors and such a high standard; it’s absolutely great to be able to come here and race against the best of the best in your age group. 

“Being able to push myself and seeing where I stand against them is amazing. All over the course there were people - not even from Australia - cheering for me, it’s a great environment.” 

Christian Mahon was the top placed Aussie in the Men’s 12.5km Individual event in 73rd place. David Patterson finished 94th and Jonte Treasure 98th. 

As the top two placed Aussies, Luka Miskin and Christian Mahon will contest the Single Mixed Relay on Sunday. Both athletes will ski twice in the relay with females skiing 2 x 3km, while the males will ski 3km in the first leg and 4.5km in the second, alternating between prone and standing shooting.

In the Mixed NOC 3x3 Ice Hockey, all teams played two matches on Saturday. Women’s Blue, featuring Aussie Nikki Sharp, is currently one of two undefeated Teams in the women’s competition, after Blue defeated Women’s Orange 7-4 (featuring Aussie Molly Lukowaik) in round two, and defeated Women’s Black (with Courtney Mahony) 8-4 in round 3. 

It was Black's first loss of the tournament after an earlier win against Women’s Red. 

Ebony Brunt in Women’s Grey and Lukowaik in Women’s Orange will head into rounds 4 and 5 on Sunday with one win each. 

In the men’s tournament,  Sai Lake (Men’s Brown) had a narrow two-point loss in Round 2 to Men's Green, before bouncing back to a dominant 16-6 victory over Men’s Grey, putting them in second place on the overall standings heading into Sunday. 

Men’s Blue, featuring Riley Langille, is yet to put a win on the board. All Mixed NOC 3x3 Teams will return to the rink on Sunday for rounds 4 and 5.  Check out all the Games results and match schedule HERE.

It was an unfortunate day for Australia’s Alpine Ski Team, all recording DNF in their Slalom runs of the Alpine Combined event. However the women will return to the mountain tomorrow, with the Men on Monday, to race again in the Giant Slalom, before the Slalom events next Tuesday.  Sunday's Giant Slalom will be streamed live on olympics.com.au/live-stream.