The most successful nations in Martell

While we close the first part of Junior Cups of this season, it is time to have a look back at the past two weeks in Martell. It is fair to say that after the first week, where no results predictions could be made, week two showed us that some nations and athletes will be the favourites for this season, and it is worth watching them closely. Who was the most successful - and which nations could celebrate their first podiums?

Polish Junior Men on Fire

Week two in Martell saw one nation standing out, winning three out of six competitions, and adding two third places. Poland already showed that they need to be considered amongst the strongest teams this season, finishing first in Junior Men Relay the past week.

The junior man to watch during the second week was Jan Gunka, who finished on top of Wednesday’s Sprint, despite two misses on the shooting range. He showed a great performance on skis, being the second fastest on the tracks.

"I decided before the race to start a little bit slower and try to get faster every loop. Finally, I had too much power in the last one," the youngster from Poland explained after the competition.

He also gave no chance to his opponents in the Super Sprint Competition. First, he won the qualification and later sealed the deal in the final, crossing the finish line 14 seconds ahead of others. Gunka finishes the year as the leader of Junior Men’s IBU Cup Total score with an advantage of 15 points ahead of the Slovenian Anton Vidmar.

But it was not only Gunka giving Polish fans a reason to smile. Patrycja Stanek and Marcin Zawol first won the Single Mixed Relay together, showing the fastest course time and best shooting score (0+7) of all teams. Encouraged by the success, they both got to the third position in Super Sprint competitions, adding to the Polish success in the week.

Home-favorite Scattolo & German Success

There was also one outstanding name amongst the women during the first set of competitions. 18-year-old Italian Sara Scattolo started week two with second fastest time on skis and clean shooting, earning a comfortable victory in Sprint competition. In Saturday’s Super Sprint, she finished second, just 2.8 seconds behind the winner. Martina Trabucchi and Iacopo Leonesio added more success for Italy with third place in the Single Mixed Relay Competition on Friday. The same day, Scattolo was also celebrating a strong second place with her team members in Mixed Relay. To sum it all up, she is now the leader of Junior Women’s IBU Cup Total score with 174 points.

The second week in Martell brought a lot of success also to the German team. Mareike Braun finished third in Sprint, earning her first individual podium. Together with Hanna-Michele Hermann, Darius Lodl and Hans Koellner, they added a valuable victory in Mixed Relay, where anchorman Koellner had to show his strength in the last loop. After one penalty loop due to a miss in the last shooting, he left the shooting range in second position, close behind the Italian Zeni.

"It was not my best shooting, but in the last loop I felt really great, I knew that I'm strong," said Koellner in the finish.

To top of the thrilling week, Johanna Puff added a second victory in Saturday’s Super Sprint improving her qualification result by three positions.

First podium finishes for Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Russia

Besides the most successful nations, athletes from Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Russia also made their mark and celebrated their first podium finishes of winter during the second week of competitions in the Italian valley.

First to bask in the joy of success was Silvano Demarmels of Switzerland. Demarels was the only clean shooter of Wednesday’s Sprint competition, finishing second, just 0.4 seconds ahead of Ukrainian’s Roman Borovyk. A few days later, the Czech Republic rejoiced over the second place in the Mixed Relay with the best shooting score (0+8) of all teams! The same day also saw Team Russian jump on the podium, when Liubov Kalinina and Evgenii Emerkhonov earned second position in the afternoon’s Single Mixed Relay. But that was not the end. Aleksandr Kornev showed the fastest performance on skis in Saturday’s Super Sprint and hung on to second place despite missing four times on the shooting range.

Junior Cup resumes on January 12, 2022, in Hochfilzen, Austria. The program consists of two sets of Sprints, Mixed Relay and Single Mixed Relay.

Photos: IBU/Harald Deubert

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