With all competitors starting at the same time, the mass start competition offers spectators the ultimate in excitement. Since a lane must be available at the shooting range for each competitor at almost the same time due to the simultaneous start, the number of participants is limited to 30. The route length is 10 kilometers for the ladies and 12,5 kilometers for the men.
The athletes manage four shooting bouts: prone - prone - standing - standing. For the first shooting bout, the order depends on the start number of the athletes. From the second shooting bout, the athletes line up on the free shooting lanes in the order in which they arrived at the shooting range, starting from the right.
Participation in the mass start is based on the top results in the overall ranking of the current World Cup.
