World Summer Championships 2016 - Women's 7,5km Sprint Race

Biathlon World Summer Championships 2016 - Women's 7,5km Sprint Race
27.08.2016, Otepää

Merkushyna and Pidhrushna Win Sprint Gold

Merkushyna Defends Title
Ukrainians Olena Pidhrushna and Anastasiya Merkushyna swept the women's senior and junior sprints today. Pidhrushna had a single penalty on the way to a 22:18.5 victory, while Merkushyna defended her 2015 title, shooting clean in 22:59.1.

Although beautiful weather prevailed for the sprints; the gusty winds from yesterday remained, resulting in shooting troubles for many of the competitors.

1-3 for Ukraine in Senior Sprint

Korea's Anna Frolina, who previously competed for Russia had two penalties, to win the Silver medal, 10.6 seconds behind Pidhrushna. Her teammate, Iryna Varvynets won the Bronze medal, also with one penalty, 26.4 seconds back.

Fourth went to Finland's Kaisa Mäkäräinen had four penalties in fourth place, 24.3 seconds back. Russia's Natalia Shalaeva finished fifth, hooting clean. 38.6 seconds back, while Mari Laukkanen finished sixth, with three penalties, 44.6 seconds back.

Third Medal

After the first prone, where Pidhrushna hit all five targets despite the strong wind gusts, she left only in fourth position, 4.6 seconds behind the leader. With one miss in the standing she was only third, 7.6 seconds behind the leading Shalaeva. Due to her usual strong last leg, Pidhrushna overcame her rivals and finished first. Frolina had a one miss in each stage and was an early leader. Only 10.6 seconds prevented her on taking her first Gold for her new team. Late start number 50 Varvynets had a penalty in prone and left only 4th after standing, but crossed the finish third, bringing Ukraine its third medal of the day.

27 Seconds

Pidhrushna commented on her victory and the wind gusts, "We did not have a camp here and came just before the championships. So this wind was completely new for us and I spent a lot of time at the zeroing today because it always changed. When I came to the first stage, the gust was really hard, I was trying to adjust to it and made my first shot around 27 second and it is very long for me."

Merkushyna Defends

Today's winds did not hinder Merkushyna, but she had a close battle with the Silver medalist Kinga Mitoraj of Poland with one penalty, 2.5 seconds back. Russia's Natalia Gerbulova brought the first medal to her team by finishing third with two penalties, 26.2 seconds back.

First Medal for Russia

Mitoraj, who had a perfect stage yesterday during the junior mixed relay, was the leader after prone, pulling away with each split. Despite the missed shot in standing, she left the stadium at first with 9.5 seconds over Merkushyna. The Ukrainian, with early start number 8 was one of only three who shot clean today. She had a strong last lap and won by 2.5 seconds, claiming her second medal this week. Gerbulova, who also had a strong performance yesterday, had a penalty in ach stage, but her speed on the tracks secured third place.

Strong Wind

Merkushyna was surprised, but happy to score the Gold, "I did not hope for that win, but tried to do my best. It was a really strong wind today, but it blew from the same side, with the same power, so it was possible to shoot."

Видео World Summer Championships 2016 - Women's 7,5km Sprint Race канала International Biathlon Union