Alina Khmil Is the Top Ukrainian in the Youth Women's Sprint at the 2026 Junior World Biathlon Championships

The athlete missed four times but still made the race's top 20.

Alina Khmil was the top Ukrainian in the youth women's sprint, held March 4 at the Junior World Biathlon Championships in Arber. Khrystyna Ruda and Sofiia Svystun also started the race.

At the World Championships in Germany, Team Ukraine has already won three medals — all in individual races. In particular, Viktoriia Khvostenko won bronze on the second competition day, but didn't start the sprint.

The day before the women's sprints, the boys raced identical distances. Among the national team's youth men, the top finisher was Taras Tarasiuk, in 10th, while Oleksandr Bilanenko and Ivan Steblyna made the top 40 among the U21 field.

DeTalks is covering Ukrainian athletes' results at the 2026 Junior World Biathlon Championships. Follow the editorial team's Telegram channel to stay on top of the latest news.

How the Youth Women's Sprint Went for Team Ukraine at the 2026 Junior World Biathlon Championships

• Alina Khmil was the first Ukrainian on course. She trailed the leader by just five seconds heading into the first shooting stage, but three misses at prone dropped her more than a minute back.
  
  After one more miss at the standing stage, but posting the sixth-fastest skiing time overall, Alina finished 16th.

• Khrystyna Ruda missed once at each shooting stage, finishing about half a minute behind Alina Khmil. Even so, she made the sprint's top 25.
• Sofiia Svystun also missed once at the prone stage, but was the only Ukrainian to shoot clean at the second stage. Trailing world champion Michaela Straková by 2:32.8, she finished inside the scoring zone.

2026 Junior World Biathlon Championships Sprint, Youth Women, 6 km: Results

1. Michaela Straková, Slovakia (0+0) 17:02.5

2. Hanna Volstad, Norway (0+1) +12.3

3. Selina Hanner, Austria (0+1) +18.3

...

16. Alina Khmil, Ukraine (3+1) +1:39.5
24. Khrystyna Ruda, Ukraine (1+1) +2:16.1
34. Sofiia Svystun, Ukraine (1+0) +2:32.8
DNS. Viktoriia Khvostenko, Ukraine

The Junior World Biathlon Championships' fourth and final sprint in Arber will be the junior women's (U21) event. Start time: March 4 at 15:30 Kyiv time.