Tomas Mikyska of Czech Republic, leading from the first prone stage won the Summer Biathlon World Championships Junior Pursuit Gold medal this morning in 26:39.8. However, his one-penalty win was no cake walk, he and Silver medalist teammate Jonas Marecek dueled on the shooting range throughout the whole competition, with Mikyska shooting faster and Marecek just a step behind. In the closing competition of these Championships, Germany’s Selina Marie Kastl took control of the Junior Women’s 7.5 km Pursuit when she cleaned the second prone stage, going unchallenged to win her second Gold medal of the week, with three penalties in 21:15.1.

Silver medalist Marecek, also with one penalty finished 21.8 seconds back. Ukraine’s Vitalii Mandzyn won the Bronze medal, with one penalty, 53.1 seconds back. Mikyska and Marecek’s teammate Ondřej Manek shot clean but finished fourth, 55.8 seconds back. Maxime Germain of the USA, with four penalties, finished fifth, 1:00.2 back while Lithuania’s Maksim Fomin, with three penalties finished sixth, 1:01.1 back.

Two-man Affair

This 10 km pursuit, held under cloudy skies and windless conditions was basically a two-man affair. The Czech teammates skied meters apart from the start, trading shots on the range, with Marecek missing his only shot in the second prone stage and Mikyska doing the same in the first standing. Both blew through the last standing stage with ease, but Mikyska’s faster cadence put him 8.2 seconds up, and Marecek with his power fading had no chance to challenge in the last loop, hanging on for the Silver.

The battle was for the Bronze medal. Germain was solidly in third coming into the last standing, but two penalties knocked him from contention. Manek cleaned for the fourth time, going out third, with the also clean Ukrainian matching, just over seven seconds back. Mandzyn ran an inspired last loop, overtaking Manek to claim the Bronze medal, Ukraine’s first medal of these Championships.

Three medals for Kastl

Behind Kastl’s Gold medal, teammate Johanna Puff, with two penalties won the Silver medal, 14.4 seconds back. Tereza Vobornikova of Czech Republic, also with two penalties, won the Bronze medal, 23.6 seconds back.

Kastl’s teammate Selina Grotian, with four penalties finished fourth, 35.1 seconds back. Valentina Dimitrova of Bulgaria, with three penalties finished fifth, 1:08.4 back. Ema Kapustova of Slovakia, with two penalties finished sixth, 1:25.6 back.

Three Germans and Vobornikova

Like the earlier men’s pursuit, this competition looked at times like German team training session. Kastl, Grotian and Puff traded shots on lanes one two and three in the prone stages, separated by no more than 16 seconds. In the first standing stage, Vobornikova broke up the party, jumping into second position between Kastl and her teammates. In the final standing stage, Kastl cleaned and was gone 15 seconds before Puff and Grotian with Vobornikova just two seconds behind Grotian battling for the Bronze medal. The Czech IBU Junior Sprint/Pursuit World Champion closed the gap in the first 500 meters, moving to third, holding on for her first medal of the week.

Kastl and Puff’s medals upped Germany’s SBWCH leading total to eleven, with four Gold, five Silver and two Bronze. Photos: IBU/Christian Manzoni