Team Ukraine Finishes Fourth in the Junior Women's Relay at the 2025 Biathlon World Championship: How It Went
Ukraine has now come up just short of the podium for the third time at the 2025 Junior Biathlon World Championship.
The women's relay was the first of two events on the final day of the Junior Biathlon World Championship in Östersund, Sweden. Team Ukraine, made up of Tetiana Tarasiuk, Olena Horodna, Kseniia Prykhodko, and Oleksandra Merkushyna, finished fourth.
A day earlier, the world championship's junior boys' and girls' relays took place. The girls finished fourth, losing a medal on the final lap, while the boys finished ninth.
Ahead of the youth relays, Oleksandra Merkushyna also won Team Ukraine's first medal in the mass start at the 2025 Junior Biathlon World Championship, while Olena Horodna finished just short of the podium in the world championship's sprint.
How the Junior Women's Relay Went for Ukraine at the 2025 Junior Biathlon World Championship
- Tetiana Tarasiuk was the first Ukrainian on the course, starting seventh. Clearing the first shooting stage 'from seven,' the biathlete moved up to third place. On the approach to the standing stage, though, Tarasiuk lost three positions, but after using one spare cartridge, the Ukrainian found herself in provisional fourth place, ten seconds behind the leader.
- Oleksandra Merkushyna took over the relay in fourth place. The mass start bronze medalist cleared the prone stage 'from seven,' returning to the course in that same fourth place, 47.4 seconds behind the leader. But ahead of the standing stage, the Ukrainian passed Finland's representative and pulled six seconds ahead. At the second shooting stage, the biathlete used two spare cartridges and handed off the relay in third place to Kseniia Prykhodko.
- Ahead of the prone stage, Kseniia let Germany's representative pass her. The Ukrainian cleared the first shooting stage 'from seven,' but lost her balance and fell before the second. At the standing stage, Prykhodko used all her spare cartridges, and finished her leg more than a minute behind third place.
- The last Ukrainian on the course was Olena Horodna, who effectively worked the track alone for the entire leg. The Ukrainian cleared the prone stage 'from seven,' and picked up two penalty laps at the standing stage while trying to shoot quickly to make up her deficit to third place. As a result, Horodna finished fourth, trailing the leader by 3:47.8 minutes.
Team France won the relay's 'gold,' finishing more than a minute ahead of Germany's representatives. Team Norway took bronze in the race.
Junior Women's Relay. 2025 Junior World Championship in Östersund: Results
- France (6+8) 1:15:12.4
- Germany (4+9) +1:06.8
- Norway (3+9) +1:19.2
- Ukraine (8+9) +3:47.8
The final event of the 2025 Junior Biathlon World Championship will be the junior men's relay, starting at 13:45 Kyiv time. Team Ukraine will be represented in the season's concluding junior biathlon race by Bohdan Borkovskyi, Serhii Suprun, Volodymyr Aksiuta, and Mykhailo Khmil.
DeTalks is covering the results of Ukrainian athletes at the 2025 Junior Biathlon World Championship in Östersund. Follow our written coverage in the "Pulse" section, and news on the editorial team's Telegram channel.