Two Ukrainians in the Top 20 of the 2026 Junior European Individual Race

Four Team Ukraine athletes made the race's scoring zone.

Taras Tarasiuk and Ivan Steblyna finished 16th and 17th, respectively, in the individual race at the Junior European Championships, running January 21–25 in Imatra, Finland. Two more Ukrainians made the top 40.

Earlier, in the girls' individual race at the 2026 Junior Europeans, six Ukrainian representatives finished in the top 20. The Junior IBU Cup for the boys, meanwhile, ended with a double flower ceremony — Ivan Steblyna and Oleksandr Bilanenko shared sixth place in the sprint.

How Team Ukraine's Individual Race Went at the Junior European Championships Stage in Imatra

• Starting under bib number 14, Ivan Steblyna opened the race. The biathlete picked up a penalty minute at each firing stage, finishing 17th.
• Dmytro Kriukov shot clean at the first prone stage. But at the next two stages, Dmytro missed four times, finishing the individual race outside the top 20.
• Zakhar Kykot, with four misses, finished 35th. Taras Tarasiuk, meanwhile, shot clean at the second prone stage, missing once at each of the others, finishing the race 16th.
• The rest of the Ukrainians fell outside the scoring zone: Kyrylo Kulchytskyi, with six penalty minutes, finished 59th, Bohdan Bohach missed four times and finished 63rd, while Oleksandr Bilanenko picked up eight penalty minutes total and finished 41st.

2026 Junior European Biathlon Championships Individual Race, Boys, 15 km: Results

1. David Elias, Czech Republic (1+1+0+0) 42:17.3

2. Matthias Pinter, Austria (1+0+0+0) +26.1

3. Rihards Lozbergs, Latvia (1+1+0+1) +38.2

...

16. Taras Tarasiuk, Ukraine (1+1+0+1) +3:02.8

17. Ivan Steblyna, Ukraine (1+1+1+1) +3:03.9

23. Dmytro Kriukov, Ukraine (0+2+2+0) +3:37.1

35. Zakhar Kykot, Ukraine (1+0+2+1) +4:53.9

41. Oleksandr Bilanenko, Ukraine (1+1+2+4) +5:29.4

59. Kyrylo Kulchytskyi, Ukraine (2+1+1+2) +7:26.8

63. Bohdan Bohach, Ukraine (0+1+1+2) +7:43.0

The next race of the junior continental biathlon championship will be the mixed relay, starting January 22 at 10:30 Kyiv time.

DeTalks is covering Ukrainian athletes' results at the 2026 Junior European Biathlon Championships. Follow text coverage in the 'Pulse' section and news on the editorial team's Telegram-channel.