Biathlon IBU Open European Championships 2021

[RobtheAggie 340]

30 minutes ago, Grassmarket said:

We have a  team today! First time in ages. Firmly anchored at the back already.

Good to see, and they did not finish last.  Bosnia had a terrible first shooting, 3 penalty loops, ouch.  

 

E. Claude had a monster last lap on Garanichev to finish in 2nd.  US pretty decent in 9th.  Maddie Phaneuf and Lars Leopold did well.  Phaneuf handed off in 3rd place at the last exchange.  Leopold is only 21, and I was afraid he might become undone on the range, but he did well.  Norway seemed to be unable to really get going.

[dcro 10,210]

No loops and not lapped. Where is the champagne?

[Grassmarket 4,059]

Gosh, Lithuania going very well here with three rounds done. 5th place & leading Russia.

 

And they’re holding on!  Fourth at the line!

 

[rybak 3,307]

Congrats Lithuania for fourth place, Strolia was so happy at the finish line.

 

Nędza-Kubiniec sadly couldnt keep place in top8 

[RobtheAggie 340]

A few final thoughts:

 

Congrats to Latvia, two golds is a great thing.  The depth was not there for the relay's, but Rastorgujves gets his first win since the 17/18 season.  Bendika with her first International level win.  

Congrats to Poland, not only two golds, but they ran a great event.

 

Norway with lots of medals, but lots of misses on the range.  They are a deep team, no question, but some shooting issues.

Russia similar to Norway, not as many medals, but still showed their depth.  

 

 

 

[Fly_like_a_don 1,142]

Just completed watching the races

Poland and Latvia jointly  won the European Championship with 2 golds each. Expected Poland to win 1-2 golds from Starega but after she said she wasnt competing in the rest I thought that was it. But Zuk was great in the pursuit. Also unexpected was Latvia jointly leading the table. No host advantage for them so basically Latvia have won the Open European Biathlon Championships for the first time ever !