Junior World Championships: Russians dominate men's relay

By Luis Mahlknecht from Osrblie

At the beginning, a few outsiders were fighting it out, so that Kazakhstan came into the first exchange in the lead, but with the second runner at the latest, the Russians proved their absolute dominance in this competition. While Nikita Lobastow, Igor Malinowskii, Nikita Porshnew and Kirill Streltsov rushed towards an unchallenged triumph, the Norwegian relay had to compensate for the disastrous start of Dag Bjoerndalen (the name alone is not a guarantee of quality), while Germany also saved themselves with the spares and so on still got a medal.

Italy's quartet with Luca Ghiglione (Piedmont), Michael Durand (Aosta Valley), Paolo Rodigari (Livigno) and Daniele Cappellari (Friuli) always "swimmed" more or less in the middle of the field, lost the final sprint for eighth place against Austria and had to finish with rank nine are enough.

Same nations on the women's podium

Norway, Germany, Russia – the order changed, but not the content: These three nations were also at the top of the women's relay at the end. But here it was much more exciting than with the men.

It was a relay competition with many surprises, with the lead constantly changing (Slovenia, Poland and Canada, among others, were at the top at times) before a sudden wind made the second shooting a lottery. At times the Belarusians pulled away, but gradually the larger class of top nations emerged, and so Hilde Eide, Karoline Erdal and Ingrid Tandrevold took gold to Norway, ahead of the German trio and the Russian relay. Italy's women got off to a good start before Ginevra Rocchia fell victim to the crazy wind and had to go through three penalties. Michela Carrara and Rachele Fanesi caught up well again, but a crash on the home straight cost Fanesi and thus the Italian relay team two places. So it came in 13th place. Nevertheless, it is the most successful youth and junior world championship for Italy's team since this combination was introduced at world level (2002).

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Junior World Championships: Russians dominate men's relay

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