Ukrainian wins gold in junior sprint at 2024 Summer Biathlon World Championships
Ukrainian biathlete Vitaly Mandzyn commented on the victory in the junior sprint 2024 Summer World Cup.
“The weather conditions were difficult today, the wind was strong and unstable, gusty. It was quite difficult to concentrate on shooting. But I tried to concentrate as much as possible, I tried very hard. I am glad that everything worked out. I will say that the competition is quite strong compared to last year, because the Norwegians are here now, and this makes the competition higher.”
“That’s my style. I start a fairly measured race, and then try to improve with each lap until the finish line, and it works. True, today, when I heard that I would lose 15 seconds after the lap, it was not very pleasant, but it gave me a push. I knew what I was doing, what tactics I would stick to, firstly, I needed to shoot well. I’m glad that everything worked out the way I wanted. Well, as for the shooting, I can say that maybe I didn’t work perfectly, but I’m glad that I managed to close all the targets.”
“There is already such a tendency, I notice it myself, the first races of the championships are not going very well shooting, I am not completely psychologically stable. I believe that this factor played such a role. And also, somewhere I got overexcited, tactically I behaved incorrectly precisely in the prone shooting. All this resulted in misses. Today I worked as best I can, in my own rhythm. That is why this is the result.”
“Today is a very important day for Ukraine, and today it was not twice, but several times more pleasant to hear our anthem.”
“I want to admit that when I stood on the top line today, I thought about one person, my personal coach, who is now defending our country, Nazar Vladimirovich Burik. He was here with me six months ago, when after the relay the guys and I stood in second place on the podium, he supported me. And now, when he is defending Ukraine, I want to dedicate my victory to this person, who has done so much for me, for my results.”
Mandzyn won the sprint without missing a single shot. The Ukrainian was 41 seconds ahead of his closest rival, Norwegian Havard Tosterud.
Earlier in the competition, Dmytro Pidruchnyi won the men’s super sprint. Another Ukrainian, Artem Tyshchenko, won silver in the same race. Victoria Khvostenko also won silver in the junior sprint, and Elena Gorodnaya won bronze in the same race.
On Saturday, two more races will be held at the 2024 Summer Biathlon World Championships: the men’s and women’s sprint in the elite group.
Source: Sportarena
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