Excitement ran high on the first day of the IBU Para Biathlon World Championships in Pokljuka, with final results often decided by narrow margins. The competition opened with a display of dominance from North American athletes, who claimed victory in both the sitting and standing categories. In the vision-impaired category, European para biathletes emerged on top. Meanwhile, representatives from Asia ended the day without a gold medal, although they managed to secure a podium finish in each of the six events.

The inaugural Para Biathlon World Championships, held entirely under IBU governance, kicked off with the Sprint event. All categories raced over a 7.5 km course, including two prone shooting bouts. Each missed shot required the competitor to complete a penalty loop—75 meters for the sitting category and 150 meters for both the standing and vision-impaired categories.

Aaron Pike was not considered one of the favorites in the sitting men category. The 38-year-old had been ill and had not completed his full preparations; in his only start so far—a sprint in Val di Fiemme—despite shooting flawlessly, he managed only seventh place. In Pokljuka, however, the American recaptured the form he displayed two years ago when he won three World Championship medals in Östersund. After the first shooting, he was in third, trailing behind Kazakhstan’s Yerbol Khamitov and Ukraine’s Vasyl Kravchuk, but at the following splits, he emerged as the fastest. Nevertheless, his advantage wasn’t big—silver medalist Tao Wang of China finished just 9 seconds behind, and bronze medalist Khamitov was only 10 seconds slower.

The women's race was billed as a showdown between Kendall Gretsch and Anja Wicker. This was true until the first shooting when the two competitors were separated by only two seconds. On the second shooting, the German incurred a penalty round, which resulted in a 30-second deficit compared to the American. As a result, Gretsch maintained her unbeaten status this season. The bronze medal went to Yunji Kim of Korea, the youngest competitor at just 18 years old.

In the standing categories, the same athletes who claimed gold last year in Prince George returned to the top of the podium. However, Marek Arendz’s win was in doubt. After the penalty round in the second shooting, he trailed Marco Maier by 2.5 seconds. Ultimately, the Canadian managed to tip the scales in his favor, finishing 1.2 seconds ahead of the German.

Bronze went to Xiaobin Liu, who overtook France’s Karl Tabouret and Ukraine’s Grygorii Vovchynskyi on the final lap. In the women’s race, similar drama unfolded. After the first shooting, Ukraine’s Oleksandra Kononova led the field; following the second, China’s Zhiqing Zhao took over the lead. However, at the finish line, Nathalie Wilkie recorded the fastest time. The Canadian defended her world champion title in the sprint with a mere three-second advantage over Zhao, while Kononova settled for third.

In the men's competition in the vision-impaired category, the Ukrainians emerged as strong contenders for victory. Oleksandr Kazik rose to the challenge, winning with a 25-second advantage despite one penalty round and successfully defending his championship title from a year ago. Just as he did last year, he managed to overtake France’s Anthony Chalencon, who had edged out China’s Shuang Yu by three seconds.

Meanwhile, in the VI women's sprint, we witnessed the anticipated double for the German biathletes. Leonie Maria Walter secured her fourth win of the season, shooting flawlessly to build a lead of one minute and 23 seconds over Johanna Recktenwald, while Yue Wang—saddled with three penalty rounds and trailing by over two minutes—claimed bronze. China ended the day with five medals, although none were gold. There is a chance to change that on Saturday when the Sprint Pursuit is scheduled to take place.

Photos: Kacin | IBU