Sunday in Otepaa belonged to the juniors. They competed in the 15-kilometre and 12.5-kilometre individual races. In the men's race, Leonhard Pfund won the next medal for the German team. He won ahead of Valentin Lejeune from France and Jan Gunka from Poland. The women's title also went to Germany. Julia Tannheimer won ahead of Ema Kapustova from Slovakia and Lena Repinc from Slovenia.

It was a premiere for all three athletes on the podium of the individual race at the Junior World Championships in Otepaa. It was their first time on the podium at a World Championships. Leonhard Pfund from Germany won the race. The 20-year-old was the fastest on the course and only missed one target in the final standing shooting. This made him unbeatable on the day. Valentin Lejeune came in second behind him. He was the only competitor to hit all the targets. At the finish he was 13 seconds slower than Pfund. Jan Gunka from Poland completed the podium. With just one minute's penalty, he finished 15 seconds behind Pfund.

Career best performance for James Pacal

Switzerland's James Pacal was one of the first to start the race with bib number three. He was leading after the third shooting until he missed a shot at the last shooting. He achieved his best career result with fifth place at the finish. Isak Frey from Norway finished ahead of him. Linus Kesper from Germany finished sixth with two misses.

Julia Tannheimer rocks!

Julia Tannheimer dominated the women's individual race. With a lead of 1:24 minutes, she showed what good skiing performance she has. The one shooting mistake at the last stop did not cause her any problems. In the separate classification, the ski time, she was over a minute faster than Sara Andersson from Sweden. It is the first individual medal for Julia Tannheimer at a World Championships. Ema Kapustova from Slovakia secured second place. She made no mistakes and was able to relegate Lena Repinc from Slovenia, who also cleared all the targets, to third place. Kapustova already won a medal in the individual event at the IBU Open European Championships in Brezno-Osrblie in January. For Lena Repinc it is the first World Championship medal, although she has already completed numerous World Cup races. She was followed by Martina Trabucchi (Italy), Leonie Jeannier (France) and Anna Andexer (Austria).

Small crystal globes in the individuals go to Germany

The German team not only secured the victories in the individual junior races, but also the small crystal globes in the overall individual discipline classification of the IBU Junior Cup. Benjamin Menz won the men's competition and Alina Nussbicker the women's competition.

Photos: IBU I Osula