Aleksei Kovalev of Russia and Linda Zingerle of Italy won gold in today’s youth sprint competitions. Kovalev shot 10/10 and Zingerle 9/10 on a sunny day at the IBU Youth/Junior World Championships in Lenzerheide.

Aleksei Kovalev of Russia managed to shoot 10/10 and ski fast enough to win the gold medal in the youth men's 7.5 km sprint competition in a time of 19:53. Ondrej Manek of Czech Republic also shot clean but was 13 seconds slower on the tracks to finish second 9.3 seconds back. The Russian was 3.7 seconds slower on the shooting range than his Czech rival). The bronze medal went to Maxime Germanin of the USA with one penalty, 11.3 seconds back.

Youth individual and relay gold medalist Norwegian Martin Nevland unable to capitalize on the windless conditions, had three penalties despite the fastest ski time (38.2 seconds faster than Eric Perrot of France) finished fourth. Nevland's teammate Morten Hol, with one penalty finished just .1 seconds slower in fifth place. Campbell Wright of New Zealand, with one penalty showed his fourth place at the YOG 2020 was no fluke finishing sixth, 20.1 seconds back, although he was competing against athletes a year older than he is.

Zingerle brings glory to Italy

Linda Zingerle of Italy won the gold medal in youth women's 6 km sprint competition, with one penalty in 17:44.7. 20.8 Liubov Kalinina of Russia shot clean or the silver medal, 20.8 seconds back. Oceane Michelon of France, with two penalties, won the bronze medal, 21.3 seconds back.

Zingerle starting with a furious pace in the first loop was told by her coaches to slow down a bit to control her race until the end. The daughter of Olympic bronze medalist, four-time IBU World Champion and Italian World Cup Head Andreas Zingerle was fastest after 5/5 shooting in prone and standing 4/5 shooting, holding her lead across the finish line despite the penalty loop. She was speechless, or so she said, holding the gold medal in her hands. Kalinina shot 10/10 but had a 40.6 second slower ski time than Zingerle while Michelon, with the fastest ski timehad to ski two penalty loops for the bronze medal.

You can watch live stream from Lenzerheide at: biathlon.fans every day.

Photos: Evgeny Thumashov