SUMMER BIATHLON. Krystyna Palka of Poland and Dmitri Yaroshenko of Russia each had four penalties, but still claimed Gold medals in their respective pursuit competitions at the Summer Biathlon World Championships this afternoon in Nove Mesto na Morave.

Happy Palka

Sprint champion Valj Semerenko of Ukraine and Palka started just 3 seconds apart today. Despite missing four prone shots, Palka cleaned the standing stages to finish 44.4 seconds ahead of the Ukrainian. Semerenko’s six penalties plus fatigue form three hard competitions were just too much for her today. Just as in the winter; the first day is easy, the second a bit harder and by today, Semerenko could not explain the three standing penalties in the third stage.

Considered Not Starting, Then a Bronze Medal

Weronika Novakowaska-Ziemniak of Poland was in such a bad mood earlier in theday that she considered not starting the women’s pursuit. After her seventh place in the sprint left her more than a minute back, she felt her changces of moving up were poor. After four penalties in the first three stages today, she shot clean in the final standing stage. Only then after passing Veronika Vitkova of the Czech Republic did she move into the Bronze spot. After encouragement from her coaches, she sped up and secured her medal. Like some of her teammates, she xplained her bad form last season to overtraining and now has resolved that. Withe her medal today, the prospects for the winter look much brighter

Three Competitions, Three Battles, Three Gold Medals

Yaroshenko secured his spot as the star of these Championships, despite four penalties, with a solid 33:04.5 victory in the men’s 12.5K pursuit today. After the Mixed Relay and Sprint gold medals, this was the icing on the cake.

Olexander Bilanenko of the Ukraine could do little more than congratulate his Russian rival today. The Ukrainian only had two penalties, but still was 30.6 seconds back at the finish. Bulgaria again grabbed the Bronze medal, but today it was Krasimir Anev instead of his teammate Vladimir Iliev. Anev was the only man to shoot clean and finished 54.9 seconds behind Yaroshenko. Fourth went to the host Czech Republic’s Michal Slesingr who moved up from ninth position at the start but fell 29.9 seconds shot of a medal.

The 2012 Summer Biathlon World Championship´s will be held in Ufa, Russia, the nation who had the most success at these 2011 Summer Biathlon World Championships.

25.09.2011, Nove Mesto CZE / IBU Info PL/JK
www.biathlonworld.com

Russia’s Yaroshenko and Valj Semerenko Take Senior Sprints

The Russian sweep of the junior sprints in the morning was followed by two new champions in the senior sprint competitions in the afternoon, with Dmitri Yaroshenko of Russian took the men’s title and Valj Semerenko of Ukraine claimed he women’s Gold.

Podium sprint men: Olexander Bilanenko (UKR), Dmitri Yaroshenko (RUS) and Krasimir Anev (BUL)

End of the Russian Win Streak

With good weather and moderate temperatures continuing in Nove Mesto na Morave, the Russian streak of wins ended as Semerenko topped the 36 women in the 7.5K sprint. She started second from the end and missed just a single shot to take the World Championships title in 19:37.8, 2.7 seconds ahead of Krystyna Palka of Poland, who also had one penalty. Palka was the star in last year’s Summer Biathlon World Championships in her home stadium at Duszniki Zdroj, where she won the sprint, finished second in the pursuit and was part of the Gold medals winning Mixed Relay team.

Gerekova Takes another Bronze

Jana Gerekova of Slovakia, with two penalties finished 32.3 seconds behind Semerenko, but was pleased to be on the podium for the second time this week after a Bronze in the Mixed Relay.

The host nation again as satisfied as Veronika Vitkova, with one penalty finished fourth, 47.8 seconds back. On the other hand, the Russian team was not as happy as Lyudmila Shishkina finished fifth despite shooting clean.

Semerenko said that her medal here at the Summer Biathlon World Championships has the same value as good positions at the World Cup in the winter. Palka was very happy about her silver medal after breaking her arm last winter and coming close to retirement. She now is fully recovered and has good motivation for the coming winter.

Men’s Sprint

A large group of spectators was on hand to see the much larger men’s field of fifty six battle for the medals.

New Version of Two-man Battle

Early in the competition Bulgaria’s Vladimir Iliev and his teammate Krasimir Anev were at the top of the standings. However once two anchormen form the Mixed Relay started things changed. Yaroshenko at number 44 and Ukraine’s Olexander Bilanenko at 46 both shot clean in prone, although Bilanenko later said shooting was hard in the windy conditions. . Yaroshenko had two standing penalties but that did not keep him from his second Gold medal. He finished in 24:35.1, ten seconds ahead of the clean-shooting Ukrainian. Iliev also shooting clean took the Bronze medal, 35.6 seconds back. Bilanenko was happy to get his second Silver medal but upset to have lost for a second time to Yaroshenko.

Yaroshenko on the other hand was all smiles with his success, which he saw as a good reference point to make his way on the Russian squad for the winter. Still he acknowledged that there was a quite complicated internal qualification system to make that team.

Equally satisfied was the Bulgarian Iliev. Usually not a podium finisher in the winter, he showed that his team had a good summer of preparation. He hopes to be back on the podium in Sunday’s pursuit competition. The pursuits start at 9:30 with the juniors.

24.09.2011, Nove Mesto CZE / IBU Info PL/JK
www.biathlonworld.com