Oleksandra Merkushyna Brings Ukraine Its First Medal of JWCH 2025 in Biathlon: Junior Mass Starts Recap

Oleksandra Merkushyna claimed bronze, and Bohdan Borkovskyi made the top 5 of the race.

The junior men's and junior women's mass starts of the 2025 Junior World Championships in biathlon took place in Östersund, Sweden. In the women's race, Oleksandra Merkushyna finished in the top three, bringing the Ukrainian team its first medal of the championships. Alongside Oleksandra, Kseniia Prykhodko, Olena Horodna and Tetyana Tarasiuk represented the national team in the junior women's mass start.

In the junior men's race, Bohdan Borkovskyi stood out, making the top 5 of the mass start. Alongside the 20-year-old athlete, Serhii Suprun and Mykhailo Khmil also took part in the race.

In the youth mixed relay that same day, three Ukrainian girls at once made the top 5 by shooting speed, but failed to take high positions. Earlier at JWCH 2025, Olena Horodna also finished fourth in the sprint, losing to the bronze medalist by one second, while in the mixed relay of the world championships the Ukrainian team set a personal best — fifth place.

How the Ukrainian junior team's mass start went at the 2025 Junior World Championships in Biathlon

• Bohdan Borkovskyi started with bib 16. The Ukrainian missed twice at the first prone stage and cleaned the second one. At the third and fourth shooting stages, Borkovskyi picked up three penalty loops and finished fifth, 48.6 seconds behind the leader.

• Serhii Suprun was the second Ukrainian to start. His misses were identical to Borkovskyi's — one at the prone stage and three at the standing ones. But due to a slower skiing pace, the Ukrainian finished just inside the top 30.

• The last Ukrainian in the mass start, Mykhailo Khmil, came within a step of the scoring zone. With seven penalty loops and a 3:14.3 gap to the winner, Mykhailo finished 41st.

Junior World Championships in Biathlon 2025 in Östersund, junior men's mass start: results

1. Kasper Kalkenberg, Norway (1+2+0+2) 35:20.9

2. Jimi Klemettinen, Finland (0+1+1+1) +6.5

3. Petr Hak, Czechia (1+0+2+2) +32.9

4. Andreas Aas, Norway (0+0+3+0) +42.6

5. Bohdan Borkovskyi, Ukraine (2+0+1+2) +48.6

...

30. Serhii Suprun, Ukraine (2+0+1+2) +2:38.4

41. Mykhailo Khmil, Ukraine (0+3+1+3) +3:14.3

The Ukrainian team's junior women's mass start at the 2025 Junior World Championships in Biathlon: how it went

• Ukraine's team leader Oleksandra Merkushyna started 11th. After picking up two penalty loops at the first shooting stage, the Ukrainian cleaned the next two and missed at the last one. Despite that, the biathlete finished third and thus claimed the team's first medal of the 2025 world championships. Oleksandra also posted the fastest shooting time.

• Another Ukrainian representative made the top 10 — Kseniia Prykhodko. The biathlete missed three times at the shooting stages and finished 1:08.2 behind the mass start leader. On the range, Kseniia lost 10.9 seconds to Merkushyna and took third place in speed.
• Olena Horodna, who started with bib 6, missed once at the prone stage and picked up five penalty loops at the standing stages. 1:34.2 behind the winner, the Ukrainian finished 15th.

• The lowest position among the yellow-and-blues went to Tetyana Tarasiuk — 32nd. The biathlete missed a total of eight times and finished 3:28.7 behind the leader.

Junior World Championships in Biathlon 2025 in Östersund, junior women's mass start: results

1. Sara Andersson, Sweden (2+0+2+0) 28:33.0

2. Amalie Bandju, France (2+0+0+0) +12.5

3. Oleksandra Merkushyna, Ukraine (2+0+0+1) +17.2

…

9. Kseniia Prykhodko, Ukraine (0+1+1+1) +1:08.2

15. Olena Horodna, Ukraine (0+1+4+1) +1:08.2

32. Tetyana Tarasiuk, Ukraine (3+1+3+1) +3:28.7

The next races for the athletes of the JWCH 2025 in biathlon will be the relays, scheduled for March 4. The junior women will start at 12:30 Kyiv time, and the junior men at 16:00.

DeTalks covers all the races of the 2025 Junior World Championships in biathlon in Östersund. Follow the text coverage in the "Pulse" section and the news on the editorial team's Telegram channel.