The second day of the Para Biathlon World Championships in Pokljuka was dominated by the Ukrainian team, which claimed half of the available medals in the Sprint Pursuit. While Oleksandr Kazik's recent successes in the VI category have taken some getting used to, the return to winning form by Oleksandra Kononova and Grygorii Vovchynskyi is truly outstanding.

The day began with a morning Sprint that set the starting order for the afternoon Pursuit. In each category, athletes who finished within 30% of the winner’s time qualified for the Pursuit. Both races covered a distance of 4 km; however, the Sprint imposed a 15‑second penalty for each missed shot, whereas in the Pursuit, athletes had to ski penalty loops for any shooting errors. This is the only event among the three in the championship program featuring direct rivalry, where the winner is simply the first to cross the finish line. This two‑stage competition delivered a tremendous amount of excitement.

This was evident right from the first competition—the men’s sitting race. None of the medalists from Thursday’s sprint managed to return to the podium. Instead, victory went to China’s Zixu Liu, who edged out compatriot Mengtao Liu by 14 seconds. Meanwhile, Oleksandr Aleksyk of Ukraine appeared to be the happiest at the finish, having overtaken Aaron Pike on the final lap to secure the bronze.

In the women’s sitting race, the decisive moment came during the second shooting, where Kendall Gretsch and Anja Wicker arrived nearly side by side. The American shot flawlessly, while the German missed three times. As a result, Gretsch entered the last lap with a lead of well over a minute on her fiercest rival, who was eventually overtaken before the finish by a clean‑shooting Yuxin Zhai of China. This marks Gretsch’s second gold in Pokljuka and her fifth victory in five starts this season.

On Thursday, the standing categories showcased Team Canada, but by Saturday, Ukrainian biathletes had taken over. The day's highlight was undoubtedly Oleksandra Kononova's ninth gold medal at the World Championships. The 33-year-old began her medal collection in 2009 in Vuokatti, and after today's success, she now boasts a total of 20 World Championship medals. Her joy was further amplified by sharing the podium with compatriot Iryna Bui, who finished with silver just 17 seconds behind her. Meanwhile, China’s Zhiqing Zhao claimed bronze after missing three shots at the range, and Nathalie Wilkie, the sprint gold medalist from two days earlier, finished fifth behind teammate Brittany Hudak.

A few minutes later, Pokljuka Stadium spectators witnessed perhaps the most thrilling race of the day. The first stage of the standing men's competition promised a repeat of Thursday’s action, as Mark Arendz narrowly defeated Marco Maier. As the saying goes, "when two fight, the third benefits"—this proved true once again as the Canadian and the German, each with one penalty round, were overtaken in the contest for victory by the flawless shooter Grygorii Vovchynskyi. The Ukrainian edged out Maier by two seconds and Arendz by 10 seconds, marking his first World Championship gold since 2011.

In the vision-impaired categories, Leonie Marie Walter once again emerged victorious. Despite incurring a penalty round in the pursuit, she kept Johanna Recktenwald at bay. The German pair demonstrated their dominance once more—Walter is now only one step away from matching last year’s feat by Linn Kazmaier, who swept all three WCH titles in Prince George. Carina Edlinger earned the bronze medal, capturing her second World Championship podium finish as a para biathlete. Her previous podium finish came two years ago in Östersund.

In the men's race, the Ukrainian VI team delivered a spectacular performance by taking the top four positions: Oleksandr Kazik claimed his second championship title, Iaroslav Reshetynskyi secured silver, and Anatoli Kovalevskyi took bronze, while Dmytro Suiarko was the unlucky one, finishing fourth. He was followed by Thursday’s medalists—Shuang Yu of China in fifth and Anthony Chalencon of France in sixth.

The final opportunity to add to the medal haul comes on Sunday, when the individual races, covering a total distance of 12.5 km, will begin at 10:15.

Photos: Kacin | IBU