Junior Cup 2022/2023 - Week 2 Obertilliach

The second stop of the Junior Cup led the athletes to East Tyrol. In Obertilliach the best junior biathletes competed in individual, sprint, mixed relay and single-mixed relay.

Individual Wednesday

Competitions in Obertilliach kicked off on Wednesday with Individuals for the Junior Women and for the Junior Men!

On the Men's side, Jakob Kulbin from Estonia was unbeatable. The youth sprint world champion won the race with only one shooting mistake. 22 seconds after him finished the Kazakh Vadim Kurales. Hans Koellner from Germany confirmed his good shape of the last week and finished in third place.

In the women's singles, the junior world champion prevailed once again. Oceane Michelon of France took the Individual 20 seconds ahead of Maya Cloetens of Belgium. Katerina Pavlu of Czech Republic made her first podium in Junior Cup and hit all 20 targets. Only two athletes other than Pavlu managed to do so on Wednesday.

Junior Cup Obertilliach 2022/2023

Mixed Relays Friday

Friday in Obertilliach was all about the mixed relays. These are the first team competitions in the Junior Cup this season.

In the Mixed Relay 25 teams were at the start. After four legs and eight shootings the German team with Marlene Fichtner, Magdalena Rieger, Albert Engelmann and Hans Köllner finished first. With only five reloads[RDIBU1] , they achieved the best shooting result of the day. With a gap of 18 seconds, Italy finished second ahead of the French team.

In the Single Mixed Relay, Slovakia’s Ema Kapustova and Damian Cesnek succeeded despite two penalty laps. They were able to leave the second-placed Anna Andexer and Lukas Haslinger from Austria behind - Switzerland's Mathis Profit secured third place for himself and his partner Chiara Arnet in the final sprint on the finish line.

Sprint Saturday

The last competitions in the Junior Cup for the year 2022 were sprints. The men's race was won by Nicolo Betemps from Italy. His clean shooting was the base for his success. In the entire field, only seven athletes managed to do so. For Betemps it was the first victory of this season. Lovro Planko from Slovenia secured the second place ahead of Jacques Jefferies from France.

In women's sprint Anaelle Bondoux prevailed against the competition. With two clean shootings she was unbeatable. Anna Andexer from Austria finished 20 seconds behind the Frenchwoman. Maya Cloetens once again proved her good shape with a third place, earning her a podium in all 5 individual competitions so far.

The next stop in the Junior Cup will be Haanja in Estonia from February 8 to 11, 2023.

Pictures: Lisa Gerth/IBU