Renars Birkenthal | Photo: @gretakulvet
Latvian biathlete Renard Birkenthal won the 18th place in the 10-kilometer sprint in the fifth stage of the Biathlon World Cup in Rupolding on Saturday, which is his career record,Andrei Rastorgujev was in the 32nd position, but Edgars Mise finished in 92nd place.
The victory was won by Swede Sebastian Samuelsson, who shot flawlessly and finished in 21 minutes and 53.8 seconds. Italy’s Tommaso Giacomel did not close a single target and was 17.6 seconds slower, while Norway’s Isaac Frey was 34.1 seconds behind with an unerring shot.
Birkenthal made one mistake in prone shooting, but shot all five targets while standing, losing one minute and 15.4 seconds to the winner at the finish. Rastorgujev, on the other hand, was accurate in shooting while lying down, but made a mistake standing up and was one minute and 34.8 seconds behind Samuelsson. In the last lap, Birkenthal, who had the 22nd fastest pace on the track, beat Rastorgujev by about 15 seconds.
Mise took one penalty lap after each shoot and finished three minutes and 17.9 seconds slower than the winner. 108 biathletes started.
Giacomels is the leader in the sprint discipline with 309 points, Samuelson is second with 274 points, and Eric Perot from France completes the top three with 241 points. With 43 points, Birkenthal ranks 32nd in this discipline, while Rastorgujev has 17 points and is in 52nd position.
In the sum of all disciplines after 11 competitions, the leader is Giacomels, who has accumulated 686 points. He beats Samuelsson by 91 points. Birkenthal is in 38th place with 63 points, while Rastorgujev is in 45th position with 51 points.
At the end of the fifth stage of the World Cup, a chase is scheduled for Sunday.
There are nine stages in the World Cup competition this season. Then there will be a stage in the Czech city of Nove Mesto. From February 8 to 21, biathletes will compete in the Olympic Games in Italy, and in March, three more stages of the World Cup will be held in Kontiolahti, Otepä and Holmenkollen.
Baiba Bendika, Estere Wolfa, Sanita Buliņa, Annie Keita Sabule, Andrejs Rastorgujevs, Renārs Birkentāls, Rihards Lozbers and Edgars Mise will compete in the Olympic Games.
IBU Junior Cup
Latvian biathlete Esther Wolff on Saturday in Madona won the nine kilometer distance of the Junior Cup of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) with a joint start.
Even for juniors Elsa Bleidele was the 11th Martine Djatković and Laura Alziņa finished 19th and 20th respectively, Yelizaveta Boronenko and Keta knallon – 38 and 39, but Enia Kalniņa ranked 41st in the competition of 57 participants.
For juniors at a distance of 12 kilometers Richard Lozber won sixth place, Christian Carlsberg was the 22nd Matīss Meirans – 34., Daniels Kodalevs – 39., Adrian Šnorins – 42., Rudolfs Raudzins – 44., Ernest Solovyov – 54th out of 60 biathletes.
One penalty lap did not prevent Wolf from winning, as the Latvian finished in 29 minutes and 40.9 seconds. One minute and 9.3 seconds later, the Slovenian Manca Caseramana finished, who measured four penalty laps.
Bleidel had eight penalty laps but skied the fastest, while Wolff and Caserman, the top two finishers, were just four tenths of a second slower. Alzina shot without mistakes, Kolna had two mistakes, Djatković – four, Boronenko – six, and Kalniņa – seven. The day before, Wolff won the sprint, but on Wednesday she was second in the same discipline.
The juniors were won by the Czech Vladimírs Kocmāneks, who made two mistakes and finished in 35 minutes and 21.6 seconds. Lozbers missed four goals in the first shooting, but was the fastest skier in the distance, so two additional mistakes in the firing line did not prevent him from breaking into the top six. Lozbers was 31.5 seconds behind the winner.
Meirāns and Raudziņš each made seven mistakes in shooting, while the other three hosts had eight mistakes each.
Latvia was represented by 14 athletes at the IBU Junior Cup stage. Athletes from Ukraine, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Great Britain, Bulgaria, Poland, Estonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Latvia, Brazil, USA, Taiwan and Moldova competed in the Madona stage.
The composition of the Latvian national team at the IBU Junior Cup in Madona:
Esther Wolff, Elsa Bleidele, Laura Alziņa, Martīne Djatkoviča, Enia Kalniņa, Yelizaveta Boroņenko, Keita Kolna, Rihards Lozbers, Daniels Kodalevs, Matīs Meirāns, Adrians Māris Šņoriņš, Ernest Solovjovs, Kristians Karlsbergs, Rudolfs Raudziņš.
