Less than a year after the biathlon elite fought for the World Champion titles the future stars of the sport are taking part in the IBU Junior Cup in Pokljuka, Slovenia. The first competition day brought men’s and women’s sprint races, where Germany dominated the women’s event.
A sunny day in Pokljuka was an excellent scenery for the first competition day of the IBU Junior Cup. A little less than 200 athletes from 26 countries started in men’s 10 kilometres sprint and women’s 7.5 kilometres sprint. Germany, Czech Republic, Russia and Italy took the podium positions on the opening day.
21-year-old Hanna-Michele Hermann was the winner of the junior women’s 7.5 kilometres sprint in Rudno polje. With one miss on a shooting range she was 0.8 seconds faster than her teammate Selina Grotian, who shot faultlessly, and finished in second place. This was the second podium for Hermann in this season’s IBU Junior Cup edition after she finished first also in Martell in mixed relay.
Luise Mueller, with two missed targets, finished third, while Johanna Puff closed the German top list in fourth place.
Jonas Marecek from Czech Republic was the winner of junior men’s sprint event. 20-year-old who already made a debut in World Cup in 2021 took his first podium position of the season. With one missed shot in the second shooting he finished 21.7 seconds ahead of Aleksandr Kornev from Russia, and Italian Michele Molinari was third.
Slovenian team could also be satisfied after day one on the home venue. Pavel Trojer was sixth in junior men’s event after clearing all the targets. Matic Repnik finished 21st, Jaša Zidar 40th, Matic Bradeško 46th, Gašper Ožbolt 64th, Jaka Kračman 71st and Tadej Repnik 77th. In junior women’s competition Teja Zadravec concluded the first race in 35th place, Zala Repe was 40th, Viktorija Mežnar 43rd, Katjuša Slodej 44th and Nina Pogačnik 57th.
Competition in Pokljuka continues on Saturday with another sprint races.
