In perfect conditions, the juniors competed in their first race of this world championship. They fought thrilling battles on the track in the individual race. Celia Henaff and Sivert Gerhardsen are the new Junior World champions.

Celia Henaff from France cleared the field from behind and this came as something of a surprise, as the 20-year-old had never won a biathlon race or hit all 20 shots in an individual race before. But she did it brilliantly at the title fights in Oestersund. At the finish, she was 23 seconds faster than her team-mate Amandine Mengin, who led the race for a long time. Mengin only missed one target at the fourth shooting. With her second place, she also secured the individual discipline classification of the IBU Junior Cup for the 2024/25 season. Third place went to the Italian Fabiana Carpella, who also cleared 19 targets. With Siri Skar (4th place) and Ann Kristin Aaland (6th place), two Norwegians were also represented at the award ceremony.

Two strong Norwegians and one surprise medal

Sivert Gerhardsen from Norway delivered a perfect performance in the 15-kilometre race. He hit all the targets and was also one of the fastest on the course. This secured him the gold medal with a lead of over a minute over his team-mate Kasper Kalkenberg, who missed one target. James Pacal from Switzerland finished in third place. He also showed a clean performance at the shooting range. It was his first medal at the IBU Junior World Championships. Jakob Kulbin from Estonia came fourth, just two seconds behind the bronze medallist. Linus Kesper from Germany, who led the overall standings in the individual classification of the IBU Junior Cup, finished 15th in the race with three misses, but still secured the small crystal globe.

Photos: IBU I Danielsson