Dzinara Alimbekava of Belarus and Sturla Holm Laegreid were the most successful athletes younger than 25 years for the 2020/2021 season. Alimbekava's biggest competitors were Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, Marketa Davidova and Elvira Oeberg whereas Laegreid was followed by his teammate Johannes Dale and Sebastian Samuelsson of Sweden.

U25 women winner: Strong opening and finish for Dzinara Alimbekava

Dzinara Alimbekava returned from the off-season a woman transformed, fitter than ever, her injuries forgotten, her shooting technique improved and her skiing technique adjusted to the demands of today’s high-paced biathlon. She had a very strong opening to the season, crowned by a win and a second place in the first week of Hochfilzen. She fought through a mid-season form slump and started a rebound at the IBU World Championships Pokljuka 2021which led to a strong finish in Nove Mesto na Morave and Oestersund which brought her two second place finishes and two further flowers positions. This was enough to withstand all attacks from Marketa Davidova and above all from Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold and helped her finish the season in Blue bib, as the best athlete younger than 25 years. Alimbekava was at the end sixth in the Total Score standings with 734 points whereas Tandrevold finished seventh with 707 points.

U25 men winner: A dream breakthrough season

Sturla Holm Laegreid entered his first-ever full season at the BMW IBU World Cup level with a win no one but his coaches was expecting. He went on to win seven competitions in the 2020/2021 season, including first-ever individual, sprint, pursuit and mass start relay and mixed relay win, first-ever IBU World Championships gold medal (and four gold medals altogether) and first-ever World Cup Score discipline titles (in the individual). He brought shooting accuracy to rarely seen high level of consistency (93%) with successfully implementing his meditation techniques and by copying the style of Martin Fourcade. He also pushed JT Boe out of his comfort zone, forcing him to once again find new limits to his biathlon before the last competition tilted the season JT’s way. It was also Sturla’s personality that brought new perspectives and freshness to the season.

Photo: IBU/C. Manzoni