Taras Tarasiuk Makes the Top 40 in the Junior IBU Cup Individual Race: The Ukrainians' Results

Every other Ukrainian representative fell outside the scoring zone.

Ukraine's Taras Tarasiuk made the top 40 in the individual race at the second Junior IBU Cup stage, held December 18 in Val Martello, Italy. Alongside Tarasiuk, Ukraine was represented by Dmytro Kriukov, Oleksandr Bilanenko, Kyrylo Kulchynskyi, Bohdan Bohach, Kostiantyn Martseniuk, and Ivan Steblyna.

Earlier, in the girls' individual race, four Ukrainian women made the scoring zone. At the first Junior IBU Cup stage, Tetiana Tarasiuk won silver, and Kseniia Prykhodko made the top three on the final competition day.

How the Junior Men's Individual Race Went at the Second Stage of the 2025/26 IBU Cup

• Ivan Steblyna was the first Ukrainian to start. The biathlete shot clean at the first prone stage but picked up two penalty minutes at the next. He then missed three times at each standing stage, finishing 60th, trailing the leader by more than six minutes.
• Dmytro Kriukov started under bib number 30. The Ukrainian missed four targets at the first firing range, three more at the second, and missed twice at standing. Trailing the leader by more than 11 minutes, Dmytro finished the race 90th.
• Oleksandr Bilanenko missed three times across the prone stages. At the final two firing ranges, the athlete added four more penalty minutes to his tally. Kyrylo Kulchynskyi, meanwhile, missed one target at each prone stage, missed three more at the first standing stage, and shot the final stage clean, finishing 68th.
• Taras Tarasiuk picked up three penalty minutes at the prone stages, shot the third stage clean, but missed at the last one. Tarasiuk finished the race 31st — the best result among the Ukrainians.
• Bohdan Bohach shot two stages clean and missed four times at the others, but, trailing the race leader by nine minutes, finished 79th. Kostiantyn Martseniuk, with seven misses and trailing by nearly ten minutes, finished 81st.

Second Junior IBU Cup Stage in Val Martello. Individual Race, 15 km, Junior Men: Results

1. Camille Gratteloup-Manissol, France (1+0+0+1) 39:01.6

2. Thomas Marchl, Austria (0+1+1+0) +13.8

3. Judicaël Périllat-Bottonet, France (0+1+0+1) +29.3

...

31. Taras Tarasiuk, Ukraine (1+2+0+1) +4:12.7

54. Oleksandr Bilanenko, Ukraine (2+1+2+2) +6:04.9

60. Ivan Steblyna, Ukraine (0+2+3+3) +6:39.3

68. Kyrylo Kulchynskyi, Ukraine (1+1+3+0) +7:41.6

79. Bohdan Bohach, Ukraine (1+0+0+3) +9:20.9

81. Kostiantyn Martseniuk, Ukraine (2+2+1+2) 9:57.6

90. Dmytro Kriukov, Ukraine (4+3+1+1) +1:1:27.0

The Junior IBU Cup stage's next race is the girls' sprint, taking place December 20 at 11:30 Kyiv time. The boys' race starts at 15:10.

DeTalks is covering Ukrainian athletes' results throughout the 2025/26 Junior IBU Cup season. Follow text coverage in the 'Pulse' section and news on the Telegram channel of the editorial team.