Double YOG Gold To Russia
The 2020 Youth Olympic Games biathlon competitions kicked off at Les Tuffes Nordic Centre today with the youth women 10 km and youth men 12.5 km individual competitions. Russia's Alena Mokhova and Oleg Domichek claimed the Gold medals, coping the best with the very windy conditions that were present all afternoon.
"It is unbelievable"
Those were the words of Mokhova who outclassed the rest of the field out on the track today. Despite missing twice, once in prone and once in standing, she left the other competitors no chance on the tracks.
The young Russian finished in 30:56.7 with the closest contender Jeanne Richard of France finished1:03.8 back with the Silver medal with the same to penalties.
Mokhova was well prepared for these competitions and enjoyed every moment today. "It is my first international start, I was never expecting such an outcome. I want to thank my coaches; they helped so much both at the range and out on the track. We were at a training camp 1,800 meters above the sea level. This was crucial. Coming down to this altitude I felt "heavy" at first, but today it was just a pure joy to ski."
Redeemed for the home crowd
Before the start, Richard got good luck hugs and kisses from her friends, but to finish with a YOG Silver medal was never on her mind.
"I was just doing my race, I had no expectation beforehand about the podium. The conditions were hard today and I had to fight the wind for every shot and every meter on the track, I am unbelievably happy."
Fight against the wind
Yuliya Kavaleuskaya of Belarus picked up three penalties in the difficult conditions, but she made up time on the tracks, finishing with the Bronze medal 1:32 back.
"Today was a really fantastic day; in the shooting I had a bit of lack of concentration, it was hard, but I am so happy that I managed to pull off third place."
The Belarusian admitted shooting was hard. The wind conditions were changing. Compared to the zeroing you had to make some changes, I was aware of that and it was enough for this medal.
Youth Men: Gold medal decided on the tracks
In the youth men's competition, Domichek did not want to be any worse than his teammate Mokhova. The fight for the Gold medal was much closer. Leaving the last standing with the same number of misses as the silver medalist Austria's Lukas Haslinger, the Russian had to push hard to finish 13 seconds ahead of his rival.
Domichek commented, "I wanted to show a good result, to only copy the same things I do during training, and I succeed with that today. I am especially happy with my speed on the track. I had advantage of running on Haslinger's times."
With this gold medal the Russian sets new goals and is ready do develop further.
"I will only move forward, the World Championships are not so far away"
Focus on the competition
After finishing a near to perfect competition, Haslinger revealed that it was all about the focus.
"Today the focus was definitely where it needed to be, I did not push so hard before the shooting, and if you do that as well as focus on everyshot, you could shoot 20/20, today I managed 18/20."
After his finish, the Austrian was so nervous he could not watch the rest of the competition.
With a smile, he said, "I had to go away, I was so nervous. I put my headphones on and enjoyed some music."
French success
Mathieu Garcia of France had a clear goal in his head:To grab a medal, now as that is done. He owes it all to the home crowd:
"Competing at home with my public was amazing. They pushed me forward, there is no doubt that they helped me to gain seconds out on the track."
Photos by Chloe Knott and Jed Leicester for OIS
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