28 Aug 2021

Shevchenko, Mikyska Golden In Junior Sprints

The RBU’s Anastasia Shevchenko took the lead with a clean prone stage, matched it in standing and powering her way to an 18:13.3 victory and the Gold medal in the Sprint Saturday-opener Junior Women’s 6 km Sprint at the IBU Summer Biathlon World Championships this morning. The RBU’s Anastasia Shevchenko took the lead with a clean prone stage, matched it in standing and powering her way to an 18:13.3 victory and the Gold medal in the Sprint Saturday-opener Junior Women’s 6 km Sprint at the IBU Summer Biathlon World Championships this morning. Tomas Mikyska of Czech Republic was unable to match Shevchenko’s shooting but with a single penalty won the Junior Men’s 7.5 km Sprint Gold medal in 20:37.9, giving his team a 1-2 finish with Vitezslav Hornig taking the Silver medal.

IBU Summer Biathlon World Championships Junior Women and Men's Sprints

Clean Shooting Focus

Shevchenko, double Gold medalist at the 2020 IBU YJWCH concentrated on her shooting. “I tried to shoot clean because in the previous competition the wind was quite challenging, but today it gave everyone a chance to shoot accurately; I am glad I managed to do it. I got information from the coaches that two other girls were also battling for the win so on the final uphill, I tried my hardest so no one would catch me!”

Victory Despite Last Loop Fall

Mikyska with his second medal of the week, following surgery just over a month ago won despite a last loop fall. “Even after a day off, it was hard to compete today. We expected much more difficult conditions. In th end it was fine; not too much wind and the rollers did not slide even with the wet asphalt. I took a fall in the last loop but tried to go down on my right knee so nothing was hurt, just a few scratches, I am really happy with this win. I am surprised about my condition so early after surgery and hope I can be stronger when winter comes.”

Junior Women's Sprint

Sanita Bulina of Latvia, with one penalty won her second Silver medal of these Championships, 8.9 seconds back. Lena Repinc of Slovenia, also with a single penalty won the Bronze medal, 21.4 seconds back.

Eniko Marton of Romania shot clean but finished fourth, 21,7 seconds back. Fifth place went to Tereza Vobornikova of Czech Republic, with one penalty, 27.7 seconds back. Ukaleq Astri Slettemark of Greenland finished sixth, also shooting clean, 41.9 seconds back.

Clean Prone Stages

Sprint Saturday opened under cloudy skies, the thermometer reading a chilly 11C temperature with the wind flags fluttering lightly on the shooting range. Even with the light winds, no one cleaned prone until tenth starter Julia Machyniakova went 5-for-5. Nine starters later, Slettemark took over the top spot, leaving 14 seconds faster. Starter 28 Shevchenko and 29 Marton cleaned their prone stage, moving to the top two spots, with the RBU athlete faster by 3.5 seconds.

Shevchenko Pulls Away for the Victory

Multi IBU Youth World Champion Repinc came to the standing stage after a single prone miss, confidently closing all five targets, but fell .1 seconds behind Super Sprint Bronze medalist Vobornikova who cleaned equally fast. Just as fast, Super Sprint Silver medalist Bulina also went 5-for-5 to go seven seconds up on her Czech rival. Slettemark was the first woman to clean both stages but was 3.5 seconds back with 2 km to go. Shevchenko equaled Slettemark’s 10-for-10 with an efficient standing stage, moving ahead of the field of 46 women by 12.3 seconds.

Bulina had a very strong last loop and crossed with the best time of the day at that point, 9 seconds ahead of Repinc. Yet Shevchenko, although losing a couple of seconds on the last loop bettered both the Latvian, Slovenian and Romanian to claim the victory.

Junior Men’s 7.5 km Sprint

Mikyska’s teammate Vitezslav Hornig, also with one penalty gave the Czech Republic their second 1-2 finish, taking the Silver medal10.3 seconds back. Tomas Sklenarik of Slovakia, with two penalties won the Bronze medal, 50.6 seconds back.

Dmytrii Hrushchak of Ukraine, also with two penalties finished fourth, 57.3 seconds back. Matic Repnik of Slovenia shot clean but finished fifth, 1:02.1 back while Nikita Romanov of Lithuania, with one penalty finished sixth, 1:04 back.

Hornig Jumps into Lead

The junior men dodged the bullet in terms of rain, with a light drizzle before the competition, giving way later to sunshine and calm winds. The almost perfect range conditions saw Janik the second man to clean prone, take the early lead, until Hornig sped through his five targets to put a 16 second gap on the field, while eventual winner Mikyska had a penalty, mired 29 seconds back in twelfth position.

Slim Margin for Mikyska

Repnik who had earlier cleaned the prone stage went through his standing targets rapidly to get a 44-second lead but was overtaken by Mikyska who shot as well but faster. Just behind his teammate, Hornig remained in the lead, by .1 seconds when he matched with five perfect shots.

Teammates 1-2; Reversing Places from Super Sprint

After their impressive standing stages, the Czech duo battled for the Gold medal over the last 2.5 km. However, with 900 meters to go, Mikyska pulled to a 10-second lead over Hornig and carried it through the finish for the victory. Their 1-2 finish reversed the places from Thursday’s Super Sprint where Hornig claimed the Gold medal.

Photos: IBU/Christian Manzoni

Share this article