Czechia’s David Elias and Bulgaria’s Lora Hristova claimed the first Gold medals at this year’s IBU Summer Biathlon World Championships this afternoon at Otepaeae’s Tehvandi Sports Center.

Junior Super Sprints

Excellent shooting, drizzly rain, and a battle for the Silver medal marked the Junior Men’s Super Sprint. Elias, with a single penalty, finished in 19:32.8 topping Croatia’s Silver medalist Matija Legovic, also with one penalty, 13.2 seconds back. Tehvandi might be Legovic’s favorite venue, as he also won IBU YJWH Silver there last February. Sweden’s Victor Berglund’s with two penalties won the Bronze medal, 13.5 seconds back, after a tough last loop battle with Legovic.

Like the men’s competition, shooting ruled the day, with Gold medalist Hristova missing a last-stage single standing shot in her 22:41.9 victory, defending her title from last summer. Finland’s Inka Hamalainen, with three penalties won the Silver medal, 25.9 seconds back. Norway’s Ragna Fodstad, with four penalties flew over the last loop, moving from fourth to the Bronze medal.

Tehvandi Sports Center again hosts the IBU Summer Biathlon World Championships this weekend, with over 300 men and women vying for titles in the super sprint, sprint, junior pursuits, and Gala Mass Start. 2024 marks the third time the Estonian venue has welcomed the SBWH, after 2007 and 2016. Over the next three days, the senior super sprints, sprints, and Gala Mass Start will be live-streamed on Biathlonworld.com and Eurovision Sports.

Three Defending Champions

These competitions are typically a mid-summer “test” for many teams, gauging how summer training is progressing. Medal-winning remains a goal and multiple athletes with strong BMW IBU World Cup resumes will toe the start. Three 2023 Champions will defend their titles: Belgium’s Florent Claude, Latvia’s Andrejs Rastorgujevs and local hero Estonian Tuuli Tomingas. Tomingas leads the home team that will go for medals in both the junior and senior categories. At the same time, Rastorgujevs is coming off the most successful season of his career, winning Silver in the IBU WCH Mass Start last February. Claude will be joined by his two brothers from the French team, Emilien and Fabien.

In addition to these Champions, Sweden sends a team that includes Olympic Relay Gold medalist Jesper Nelin and 2023 IBU Cup Total Score winner Tilda Johansson.

Norway Leads Junior Field

Norway will bring a strong contingent hoping for medals to the junior competitions, led by Kasper Kalkenberg, who has won eight IBU Youth/Junior medals in the last two seasons, five of which were Gold. The women’s team is led by double medalists from last February, Silge Berg-Knutsen and Agathe Brathagen. Czechia after a dozen medals in those same championships will also field a strong team.

Photos: IBU/Christian Manzoni