In the first race of the IBU Youth World Championships, the individual races were on the programme. The women raced 10 kilometres, the men 12.5 kilometres. In the end, the gold medals went to the Czech Republic and France.

The season of superlatives continues for Ilona Plechacova from the Czech Republic. After her first victory in the IBU Junior Cup in the sprint in Jakuszyce in January and her first World Cup appearance in the relay at the IBU World Championships in Lenzerheide, she stands at the top of the podium at the IBU Youth World Championships. Despite three misses at the shooting range, she dominated the race on the track with the fastest running time and finished 48 seconds faster than Carlotta Gautero from Italy. Gautero showed the best performance at the shooting range of the top 3 with just two misses, while third place went to Manca Caserman from Slovenia, who was the first to take to the track on the day. She missed three targets and celebrated bronze.

Defending Champion Antonin Guy

Antonin Guy from France already won the gold medal in the individual event at the IBU Youth World Championships 2024 in Otepaa. It seems to be his favourite event, as he also won in this discipline at the 2024 Youth Olympic Games. He dominated with just one missed target at the last shooting. Grzegorz Galica from Poland was five seconds short of gold but still managed to impress with just two misses. Leo Carlier from France completed the podium in third place. He also missed twice and finished nine seconds behind the winner. It was a successful day for the French team in general, as Camille Grataloup-Manissolle (5th place) and Flavio Guy (9th place) also made it into the top ten.

Photos: IBU I Danielsson