As expected, the debut of the Sprint Pursuit in the Paralympic Games programme proved to be a hit. The dramatic final duel between Jiayun Cai and Grygorii Vovchynskyi in the men’s standing class will remain one of the highlights of the competition. By edging past the Ukrainian at the finish line, the Chinese athlete secured his third gold medal of the Milano Cortina Games. Historic moments also awaited Kazakhstan and the Czech Republic, who celebrated their first-ever Paralympic biathlon titles.

Sprint Pursuit is the only para biathlon event in which the first athlete to cross the finish line is declared the winner. It is held in two stages, each covering approximately four kilometres. Qualification is conducted in a sprint format, except that a missed shot incurs a 20-second penalty. The time gaps from the first stage determine the starting order for the final. The final itself resembles a pursuit race, where each miss results in a 75-metre penalty loop.

The women’s sitting qualification already delivered a major surprise. Oksana Masters, one of the stars of these Games, missed four targets and therefore started the pursuit in tenth place, nearly three minutes behind the leader. Against such strong rivals, the gap proved impossible to close, and Masters eventually finished sixth. The US national anthem was played in the stadium anyway as Kendall Gretsch finally struck gold after winning silver and bronze earlier in the week. The American owed her victory to flawless shooting and crossed the finish line eight seconds ahead of Yunji Kim.

Anja Wicker also reached the podium for the third time at these Games, finishing with one silver and two bronze medals. The German began qualification with four misses but recovered strongly in the final, shooting clean and holding on to a podium place.

Yerbol Khamitov dominated the men’s sitting race. After a brilliant last season in which he won the Crystal Globe, the Kazakh finally claimed his first victory of this year’s winter in the last possible race. The 28-year-old won the qualification and comfortably controlled the final, finishing 21 seconds ahead of Taras Rad. Like Gretsch, the Ukrainian will leave Val di Fiemme with a complete set of medals. Zixu Liu also collected three medals - one gold and two bronze - after being unable to defend his second place from qualification.

Zhiqing Zhao was the first to start in the women’s standing final. However, the Chinese athlete, who skis without poles, missed four targets and finished fifth. Nathalie Wilkie came closest to perfection, becoming the only competitor in the field not to ski a single penalty loop.

The Canadian won comfortably, securing her second gold medal at the Val di Fiemme stadium. Iryna Bui finished second, while Oleksandra Kononova took bronze.

Bui had double reason to celebrate, as just a few minutes later, her partner, Grygorii Vovchynskyi, also claimed silver. The 37-year-old standing biathlete has a reputation for delivering when it matters most. Although his World Cup results have varied, this medal was already his seventh at the Paralympic Games. It could easily have been a third gold, as the Ukrainian came extremely close to victory. Jiayun Cai overtook him in the final metres, winning by just 0.2 seconds. The Chinese athlete became one of the biggest revelations of the Games, becoming only the second para biathlete in history to win all three of his starts at a single Paralympics. The bronze medal in the category went to Marco Maier, who held off Mark Arendz on the final lap. The German leaves the Games with three medals - all bronze.

Another historic moment followed soon after, as Carina Edlingerová secured the first Paralympic gold medal in Czech para biathlon history. The Austrian-born 27-year-old had promised the president of the Czech Paralympic Committee that she would sing the national anthem during the medal ceremony - and she kept her word. Even three penalty loops in the final could not stop her from claiming victory in the women’s Vision Impaired category. Yue Wang, chasing her third gold medal of the Games, came close but ultimately finished nine seconds behind.

Two bronze medals were awarded in the race: to Simona Bubenickova, who finished third, and to Leonie Marie Walter, whose rifle malfunction required a time adjustment, placing her at the same time as the young Czech athlete.

Shuang Yu secured China’s eighth gold medal in Val di Fiemme, once again underlining the team’s dominance at these Paralympics. In total, the Chinese team collected 15 medals - three more than in Beijing. However, they were not the most successful team overall, as Ukraine ultimately finished ahead in the medal count thanks to silver and bronze in the final event of the day. The 22-year-old Yu started the men’s VI final in third place but moved into the lead after two flawless shootings, overtaking Oleksandr Kazik and Anatolii Kovalevskyi. The Chinese crossed the finish line 14 seconds ahead of Kazik, who claimed his sixth Paralympic medal.

Photos: IBU | Barbieri