Two Ukrainian Women Reach the 2026 Junior European Sprint Flower Ceremony: How It Happened

Five Ukrainian women made the race's top 20.

Kseniia Prykhodko and Viktoriia Khvostenko finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the sprint at the Junior European Biathlon Championships, taking place in Imatra, Finland. Three more Ukrainian women made the top 20.

As of the third competition day, the national team had two continental championship medals to its name. Tetiana and Taras Tarasiuk won gold in the single mixed relay at the 2026 Junior Europeans, and in the mixed relay, Team Ukraine took third place.

How Team Ukraine Ran the Girls' Sprint at the 2026 Junior European Championships in Imatra

• Polina Putsko was the first Ukrainian to take the course. The athlete missed once at the prone stage and once at standing, finishing 19th.

• Iryna Shevchenko and Alina Khmil started 40 seconds apart. With one miss at the prone stage and a clean second stage, Shevchenko finished the race 37th. Khmil, with three misses, finished 26th.

• Viktoriia Khvostenko started the sprint under bib number 40. With two clean stages and a gap of 52.3 seconds behind the leader, the Ukrainian finished sixth. Kseniia Prykhodko also shot clean at both stages, finishing fifth.

• Tetiana Tarasiuk had the last bib number, 71. The athlete shot clean at the prone stage, putting her in second place at that point, but missed twice at standing. Tetiana finished 14th.

The sprint's winner was Manca Kaserman, with a time of 22:44.8 minutes.

European Biathlon Championships Sprint in Imatra, Girls, 7.5 km: Results

1. Manca Kaserman, Slovenia (0+0) 22:44.8

2. Anna Millinger, Austria (0+1) +31.0

3. Estere Volfa, Latvia (0+3) +36.9

…

5. Kseniia Prykhodko, Ukraine (0+0) +51.8

6. Viktoriia Khvostenko, Ukraine (0+0) +52.3

14. Tetiana Tarasiuk, Ukraine (0+2) +1:22.7

18. Valeriia Sheihas, Ukraine (0+2) +1:41.5

19. Polina Putsko, Ukraine (1+1) +1:42.7

26. Alina Khmil, Ukraine (2+1) +1:59.2

37. Iryna Shevchenko, Ukraine (1+0) +2:28.3

Next up at the 2026 Junior Europeans are the boys. Their sprint starts at 14:10 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.