The second competition day of the IBU Junior Open European Championships Biathlon in Pokljuka brought exciting fights for the medals in junior single mixed relay and junior 4×6 mixed relay. Germany and France won gold medals today.
German duo Johanna Puff – Darius Lodl were on fire on Thursday in Pokljuka, winning the junior single mixed relay ahead of Russia and France. Puff and Lodl produced the best shooting of all the single mixed relays on the startline to win the title. They only missed four shots and it took them 40 minutes and 22 seconds to complete the course.
“I was very happy because yesterday I missed one shot and today I had no mistakes. The whole field was very strong,” said Puff after the race for the IBU.
Anastasiia Grishina and Evgenii Emerkhonov from Russia were second, twelve seconds and a half behind with eleven missed shots, while French duo Fany Bertrand – Paul Fontaine won bronze medal with six missed shots. They were 18.8 seconds behind.
Slovenians Teja Zadravec and Ruj Grošelj Simić (4+13) were 16th in the final standings.
In the afternoon part of the programme junior 4×6 mixed relay was on and it was France that dominated through majority of the race. After the final shooting Jacques Jefferies had so much advantage, he knew the gold was waiting for France and already waved to his teammates who were cheering for him from the windows and balcony of the hotel located at the venue. A couple of minutes later he crossed the finish line with a big French flag in his hands and his relay colleagues Camille Coupe, Jeanne Richard and Damien Levert ran into his embrace to celebrate the well-deserved title.
France only missed three shots and was fast on the track, so at the end they were 47.1 seconds faster than Germany in second place. Germans Selina Marie Kastl, Luise Mueller, Benjamin Menz and Albert Engelmann missed twice on the shooting range.
Czech biathletes Gabriela Masarikova, Tereza Jandova, Ondrej Manek and Jonas Marecek were third with seven missed shots and 59.3 seconds behind the winning team from France.
Slovenian team with Kaja Zorč, Živa Klemenčič, Matic Repnik and Jaša Zidar was 9th (3+14), four minutes behind the winners.
The JOECH continues on Saturday with junior women and men sprint, starting at 10:30.