The first round of the Para biathlon World Cup took place in Vuokatti, Finland on the 12th, 14th and 15th of December. Three race were on the schedule; the Sprint, Individual and Sprint Pursuit. Temperatures plummeted in Finland for the two races over the weekend getting down as low as -19 degrees Celsius.
Sitting
Due to Oksana Masters’ absence as she underwent surgery in November, podium positions were available in the women’s sitting events. Kendall Gretsch began with remarkable success, winning both the Sprint and Individual events without missing a target. Anja Wicker secured silver behind Gretsch on both occasions. Yunji Kim placed third in the Sprint, while Yuxin Zhai finished third in the Individual event. Gretsch opted out of the Sprint Pursuit, where Wicker emerged victorious, with the Chinese pair Shuji Wang and Yuxin Zhai finishing second and third, respectively.
The men’s Sprint featured a fight between the Chinese duo, Zixu Liu and Mengtao Liu. Zixu emerged victorious due to his precise shooting, while Mengtao secured second place with two misses. Yerbol Khamitov claimed third. In the Individual event, Ukraine dominated with a 1-2 finish, as Taras Rad triumphed over teammate Pavlo Bal. Zixu Liu completed the podium. Taras Rad continued his success in the Sprint Pursuit, finishing ahead of the Chinese pair once again, with Mengtao in second and Zixu third.
Standing
The women’s Sprint race was won by Yujie Guo, who narrowly defeated last season’s overall winner Liudmyla Liashenko, with both competitors achieving clean shooting. Natalie Wilkie secured third place despite two errors on the shooting range. Wilkie demonstrated improvement in her shooting during the Individual event, achieving 19 out of 20 to claim victory. She was followed closely by teammate Brittany Hudak, who finished second with perfect shooting. In this instance, Yujie Guo finished third, successfully hitting all 20 targets. Wilkie’s skiing speed in the Sprint Pursuit enabled her to achieve victory over Oleksandra Kononova, who had one miss fewer than the Canadian. Guo, with her clean shooting performance, once again had to settle for a third-place finish.
In the men’s Sprint, Mark Arendz secured victory with a perfect score of 10/10, beating fellow clean shooter Serhii Romaniuk by 12.3 seconds, while Xiaobin Liu, with one error, rounded out the podium The situation reversed in the Individual event, where Romaniuk emerged victorious over Arendz by 4.5 seconds. Dmytro Sereda finished third, with all three competitors shooting 20/20. Arendz regained his top position in the Sprint Pursuit, finishing ahead of Marco Maier in second and Romaniuk in third place. The Canadian demonstrated exceptional skill missing no shots across all three races.
VI
With last season’s crystal globe winner, Linn Kazmaier, absent from the women’s races, victories were up for grabs. In the Sprint, Yue Wang emerged victorious, finishing ahead of German teammates Leonie Walter in second place and Johanna Recktenwald in third. In the Individual event Walter secured the win by hitting 20 out of 20 targets, with Wang placing second after two misses and Recktenwald again finishing third with a clean shoot. The Sprint Pursuit yielded the same podium result, with Walter being the only podium finisher to hit all the targets this time.
The men’s Sprint went to current champion Oleksandr Kazik. He had one miss as did Shuang Liu in second place. Third place was a tie between Nico Messinger and Anthony Chalencon who both hit 20/20 and finished in exactly the same time! Kazik doubled up in the Individual this time at the head of a trio of Ukrainians with Dmytro Suiarko and Anatolii Kovalevskyi in second and third. With Kazik not starting in the Sprint Pursuit he left the door open for teammate Iaroslav Reshetynskyi to take the win. He finished ahead of another Ukrainian Maksym Murashkovskyi. Even with 4 misses Shuang Yu managed to take third place to complete the podium
Extra bullets
The Chinese team were back in force after only competing at the World Championship last season. It is Paralympic qualifying year so they have to take part if they want to make it to Italy in 2026.
The men’s sitting field for the Sprint race consisted of 24 starters from 11 different nations which is fantastic to see. They included competitors from Italy, Spain and Brazil as well as Matt Brumby who became Australia’s first ever IBU para biathlete!
With two wins and a second place Mark Arendz reached a significant milestone in his career with 50 World Cup podium finishes to his name. It’s a remarkable feat considering the calibre of opponents he has faced over the years in the men’s standing. Congratulations to him!
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