Spark and Stroemsheim win opening Individuals in Lenzerheide

Lisa Maria Spark of Germany and Endre Stroemsheim of Norway are the winners in the Individual competitions, the opening acts of the Open European Championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. They both shot 20/20.

Spark goes 20/20 for the biggest win of her career

Lisa Maria Spark, shooting 20/20, won in the Women 15km Individual, the opening act of the IBU Open European Championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. Yulia Dzhima of Ukraine finished second and Selina Grotian of Germany third.

Spark was one of only four athletes who shot 20/20. After an injury-troubled summer, her form started to pick up at the IBU Cup in Pokljuka, where she scored a career-first IBU Cup podium in the second Sprint with a 10/10 shooting score, a confidence booster. Spark won in 45:02.4 after the jury revised the shooting performance of Michela Carrara, who seemed the winner but due to a cross-fire situation, the Italian's shooting score had to be adjusted from one to three misses. The final information to resolve the cross-fire came from the Italian coaching team - in a sign of true sportsmanship - who confirmed the Carrara did indeed miss 2 targets which were cleared by a cross-firing American.

Dzhima missed the first standing stage but had a powerful, podium-winning second part of the competition. She won silver, just 5.5 seconds behind Spark. Selina Grotian, still a youth athlete, with two misses, won a bronze medal, 33.3 seconds behind her teammate.

Vanessa Hinz, third-best German of the day, finished fourth, 37.9 seconds behind Spark. Tilda Johansson of Sweden, shooting 18/20, finished fifth, 49.2 seconds behind Spark. Juliane Fruehwirt completed a Flower ceremony podium with sixth place, 50.3 seconds behind the winner.

Stroemsheim is back to his winning ways

Endre Stroemsheim won in the Men’s 20km Individual in 51:05.9. Anton Dudchenko of Ukraine, with 19/20, finished second, 2:04.7 minutes behind for a second medal for his country. Lovro Planko of Slovenia, with one miss, finished third, 2:16.5 minutes behind the winner.

Stroemsheim took a measured first lap for his very high skiing standards but then sped through the remaining four and kept his mind focused on clearing the targets. He ended the day as the one of only two men who shot 20/20, the fifth fastest skier of the day and third fastest on the shooting range, with a gold medal hanging around his neck.

Dudchenko and Planko missed one shot in the first prone and then found their route to the podium with three perfect shooting stages and an assertive final lap. Planko was the second and Dudchenko third fastest in the fifth lap.

Erlend Bjoentegaard of Norway missed two shots and finished in fourth place, 2:34.1 minutes behind the winner. Philipp Nawrath of Germany in the fifth and Vebjoern Soerum of Norway in the sixth missed three shots each. Nawrath was 2:44.3 minutes behind Stroemsheim and Soerum 2:58.3 minutes back.

The OECH will continue on Friday with the Sprints.

Photo: IBU/C. Manzoni