Alexia Runggaldier wins European Championship silver in Ridnaun

Felix Leitner won the first European Championship competition, the men's individual competition in the morning, in a confident manner. The 21-year-old from Mils near Hall was one of the fastest biathletes on skis in the 111-man starting field. With a penalty shot, the 2016 Junior World Individual Champion prevailed in 53.32,8:XNUMX minutes. “I just tried to show what I can do. I managed to do that today and that's why I'm overjoyed. Today there were numerous Olympic medalists at the start as well as biathletes who have also been successful at world championships. But I didn’t think about it,” said Leitner from North Tyrol at the official press conference.

The Czech Tomas Krupcik took second place. The 30-year-old from Vrchlabi, who has a best result of 19th place in the World Cup, was 43 seconds slower than Leitner. “I felt really bad this morning. I never thought this could be my day. But on the course I felt better and better and when I reached the finish, I knew it was a good day,” explained Krupcik, who was 13,6 seconds ahead of third-placed Philipp Horn from Germany. Like Leitner and Krupcik, Horn also had a missed shot. “After the two top ten results at the last IBU Cup, my goal was to continue consistently. I like Ridnaun, I like this route and also the shooting range, which is certainly one of the most difficult on the whole tour. This European Championship medal is certainly the result of the hard work in the summer,” said the bronze medalist.

“Azzurri” without a chance of winning a medal

The best “Azzurro” was Rudy Zini, who took 3.39,8th place with a time of 25:91 minutes – directly ahead of the top stars Jean Guillaume Beatrix (France), who missed four times while standing, and the Russian Alexey Volkov, who also produced three tickets. The only South Tyrolean at the start, Andreas Plaickner from Antholz, ended up in XNUMXst place with five missed shots.

Chevalier irresistible on skis

The new individual European champion, however, is called Chloe Chevalier. Despite a shooting error, the Frenchwoman prevailed with an incredible performance on the narrow cross-country skiing bars in 46.32,9:22 minutes. The XNUMX-year-old had already reached the podium in the IBU Cup in Lenzerheide and Brezno-Osrblie this year. “The mistake in the first shooting was probably necessary to wake me up. Because after that I got the most out of it and actually only thought about what to do and not what result was possible. The fact that I saved my first victory for the European Championships is of course fantastic,” said the new European champion.

Runggaldier excelled at the shooting range

A South Tyrolean won the silver medal. Alexia Runggaldier made no mistakes at the shooting range, but still ended up 47,7 minutes behind Chevalier. For the 26-year-old from St. Christina, who returned to the World Cup in Antholz after a break due to illness, participating in the European Championships is the perfect preparation for the Olympic Games. The South Tyrolean ski hunter was pleased with second place. “As far as shooting goes, I'm extremely happy and I just have to be a little more patient when it comes to running. But I notice that my form is getting better day by day. Finishing on the podium at home is always something very special, that was the case in Antholz last year and of course it is the same here in Ridnaun. “I will take part in the mixed relay at this European Championship on Sunday,” said Runggaldier.

Bronze went to Russia's Victoria Slivko, who shot 55,9 seconds clear of Chevalier. “The European Championships are very important for me. That's why I explicitly prepared for the title fights here in Ridnaun last month. I had to fight hard for this medal because I had to make up a lot of time. At the finish I was overjoyed that I had made it,” said Slivko.

The European Championships in Ridnaun will continue with the sprint on Friday. The men start at 11 a.m. and the women are in action from 13.30:XNUMX p.m. Both races will be broadcast live.

Results individual men (20 km): 1. Felix Leitner AUT 53.32,8:1 minutes/XNUMX miss 2. Tomas Krupcik CZE +43,0/1 3. Philipp Horn GER +56,6/1 4. Krasimir Anev BUL +1.00,9/2 5. Martin Otcenas SVK +1.25,3/2 6. Dzmitry Abasheu BLR +1.31,8/1

Results individual women (15 km):

1. Chloe Chevalier FRA 46.32,9:1 minutes/XNUMX shooting error 2. Alexia Runggaldier ITA/St. Christina +47,7/0 3. Victoria Slivko RUS +55,9/0 4. Yuliia Zhurakov UKR +56,4/0 5. Iryna Varvynet's UKR +1.07,6/1 6. Svetlana Mironova RUS +1.26,0/3

European Biathlon Championships in Ridnaun – January 22nd to 28th, 2018

Competition program: Thursday, January 25th: Official training Friday, January 26th: Sprint men (11.00 a.m.), Sprint women (14.00 p.m.) Saturday, January 27th: Men's Pursuit (13.00 p.m.), Women's Pursuit (15.00 p.m.) Sunday, January 28th: Single mixed relay (13.00 p.m.), mixed relay (15.00 p.m.)

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Alexia Runggaldier wins European Championship silver in Ridnaun

Alexia Runggaldier from Val Gardena made her big appearance at the first competition of the European Biathlon Championships in Ridnaun. She promptly started with a podium finish.

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