The Russian junior men and French junior women won the relays on the fourth day of competitions at the (finally) properly wintery IBU Youth/Junior World Championships in Lenzerheide. Silver medals went to the German men and Russian women with bronze medals to French men and Norwegian women.

The Russian team of Kirill Bazhin, Daniil Serokhvostov, Vadim Istamgulov and Said Karimulla Khalili won the junior men's 4x7.5 km relay, with one penalty and fourteen spare rounds in 1:32:07.7 with heavy snow falling. The German team of Max Barchewitz, Tim Grotian, Julian Hollandt and Danilo Reithmueller, with just three spares finished 20.0 seconds back while French team of Thomas Briffaz, Guillaume Desmus, Martin Borgeois Republique and Sebastien Mahon, with ten spares finished third, 24.9 seconds back.

According to their anchor Khalili at the end of the highly entertaining competition, Russia entered the relay as the favourite, expecting a gold medal and delivering on the promise for the sixth time in a row. Khalili won his third consecutive junior men's relay gold medal. Russia was second at the first exchange, third at the second exchange after Serokhvostov skied a penalty loop; then moved to second at the third exchange with Istamgulov bringing an 8.9 second lead to Khalili. Germany was the best shooting team of the day with just three spares, gradually fighting its way toward the silver medal with individual gold medalist Barchewitz tagging Grotian in 19th and 2:12.6 back behind the fastest Alex Cisar of Slovenia. Grotian then brought Germany to the seventh place with Holland cutting the time gap to a 35.6 seconds, tagging Riethmueller in fourth. Khalili then used his highly valuable relay experience from BMW IBU World Cup 4 in Oberhof to keep a safe distance to the hard-charging German. France exchanged in seventh at the first exchange but stayed in medal contention, finally finishing in the bronze position.

Botet secures first gold for France

The clean shooting, fast skiing anchor of the French junior women's team Paula Botet secured the win and France's first gold medal at this year’s IBU Youth/Junior World Championships with eight spare rounds in 1:22:49.5. She was given a lead of 11.3 seconds by her teammates Camille Bened, Laura Boucaud and Lou Anne Chevat who exchanged first, second and then first. The Russian team of Anastasiia Khaliulina, Anastasiia Goreeva, Alina Kudisova and Anastasia Shevchenko was the fastest team on skis today but Kudisova’s penalty loop proved too much and they finished second with one penalty and seven spares, 15.4 seconds back. The Norwegian team of Aasne Skrede, Mari Wetterhus, Marthe Krakstad Johansen and Juni Arnekleiv, with six spare sounds finished third, 2:08.0.

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Photos: Evgeny Thumashov