Claude “Clean shooting was good; pretty fast for me”

The elder Claude brother’s Gold medal was his first IBU medal since winning Sprint Silver at the 2012 IBU Junior World Championships. “I am very happy because it is a medal even if it is in the summer. It is always good to see what is good during the preparation. Yesterday’s fifth place was already good, but today I wanted to do the job on the shooting range. I knew my shape was good, but I did not specifically prepare for this event. Clean shooting was good and it was pretty fast for me. I just had to manage my speed in the last loop to go for the win.”

Claude’s standing stage seals victory

Nelin, just out of the top group missed a prone shot but cleaned standing. Dudchenko went to 10-for-10 with a perfect standing stage, moving into third position. Just after, Claude made his podium bid with a fast second loop and his second perfect stage to take an 18.1-second lead on the field. Strolia cleaned standing after a prone miss, leaving just 4 seconds behind Dudchenko.

By the 6 km split, Dudchenko had the lead briefly until Claude on fire after his perfect day on the range, quickly came by, stretching his gap out to 22 seconds. Strolia, after coming out of standing in seventh position continued to pick up speed, passing his rivals including Nelin. The Belgian continued to push hard, adding a couple of more seconds by the finish, securing the victory and the Gold medal.

“I really wanted to win today”

Tomingas, after a Silver medal yesterday was eager to go to the top of the podium, despite the challenging wind conditions. “Of course, I am really happy (with the Gold medal). I had problems with the wind and do some corrections but my prone shooting was really slow. I really wanted to win today so on the last loop, the only way was to push with everything you have.”

Women’s Sprint

Behind Tomingas, Germany’s Lisa Marie Spark shot clean to win the Silver medal, 1.9 seconds back. Czech Republic’s Tereza Vinklarkova also shot clean to win the Bronze medal, 13.5 seconds back. Natalia Sidorowicz, with one penalty finished fourth, 29.8 seconds back. Tomingas’ teammate Susan Kuelm, also with one penalty finished fifth, 30.7 seconds back. Vinklarkova’s teammate Lucie Charvátová, with three penalties finished sixth, 32.7 seconds back.

Junior Sprints

Second Gold medal for Hristova

The junior women’s 6 km sprint kicked off Sprint Saturday under cloudy skies on again a warm 26C morning. Junior Super Sprint Gold medalist Hristova, wearing bib number seven, set the bar high from the start with a clean prone stage, followed by a single standing penalty. With that strong start and superior track speed, the young Bulgarian remained unchallenged throughout the competition, taking her second Gold medal at these Championships. Local favorite Ema Kapustova of Slovakia matched Hristova with a single penalty, taking the Silver medal, 26.2 seconds back. Bulgaria’s Valentina Dimitrova, also with one penalty joined her teammate on the podium, taking the Bronze medal, 45.3 seconds back.

Ukrainians Sweep Junior Men’s Sprint

After missing the podium in the super sprint two days ago, the Ukrainian team made up by sweeping the podium in this afternoon’s junior men’s 7.5 km sprint. The Ukrainian trio jumped to the top of the leaderboard when all three cleaned the standing stage, leaving all their rivals behind. Bohdan Borkovskyi, with a single prone penalty won the Gold medal in 19:05.5. Stepan Kinash, shooting clean, won the Silver medal, a mere .5 seconds back. Vitalii Mandzyn, with one penalty won the Bronze medal, 11.9 seconds back.