Oleksandra Merkushyna Is the World Junior Women's Biathlon Champion in the Mass Start 60!
Ukraine's first gold of the 2026 Junior World Championships.
Ukrainian biathlete Oleksandra Merkushyna has become junior women's world champion. She won the 60-strong mass start, held March 6 in Arber, Germany. Besides Merkushyna, three more Ukrainians started the race — Tetiana Tarasiuk, Kseniia Prykhodko, and Polina Putsko.
Ahead of the sixth competition day of the 2026 Junior World Biathlon Championships, the national team had three medals to its name — all won in individual races. Merkushyna, in particular, had won silver, but with her mass-start win, brought the national team its first gold of the World Championships.
How the Junior Men's and Women's Mass Start 60 Went for Team Ukraine at the 2026 Junior World Biathlon Championships
Junior Men (U21)
- The men went first in their mass start. Oleksandr Bilanenko, in particular, cleared the first two shooting stages with just one miss, putting him in the top 15 heading into the third stage. But he then missed seven more times, ultimately finishing 46th.
- Ivan Steblyna, with nine misses across the shooting stages, finished 57th. Norway's Kasper Kalkenberg won the race, missing just twice overall.
Junior Women (U21)
- National team leader Oleksandra Merkushyna, who started in the mass start's first row, took the lead of the pack after the second shooting stage. Despite three misses overall, Oleksandra held the position to the finish, beating closest rival Estere Volfa by nearly 20 seconds.
- Tetiana Tarasiuk also missed three times across the shooting stages, twice at the second stage. Slower on the course, she finished 2:28 behind Merkushyna.
- Right behind Tetiana came Polina Putsko, with two misses overall.
- Kseniia Prykhodko finished in the top 30. Like teammates Putsko and Tarasiuk, she shot clean at the first prone stage, but picked up four misses after that, finishing more than three minutes behind the leader.
2026 Junior World Biathlon Championships Mass Start 60, Junior Men (U21), 12 km, Results
- Kasper Kalkenberg, Norway (0+2+0+0) 31:15.4
- Jakov Kulbin, Estonia (1+2+0+0) +18.9
- Filip Flinkvist Flotten, Sweden (1+1+0+2) +23.6
...
46. Oleksandr Bilanenko, Ukraine (1+0+3+4) +4:15.1
57. Ivan Steblyna, Ukraine (3+2+3+1) +6:02.7
2026 Junior World Biathlon Championships Mass Start 60, Junior Women (U21), 9 km, Results
- Oleksandra Merkushyna, Ukraine (1+0+1+1) 29:17.1
- Estere Volfa, Latvia (1+2+0+1) +19.9
- Elza Bleidele, Latvia (0+3+0+1) +36.9
...
21. Tetiana Tarasiuk, Ukraine (0+2+0+1) +2:28.7
22. Polina Putsko, Ukraine (0+1+1+0) +2:46.7
27. Kseniia Prykhodko, Ukraine (0+1+2+1) +3:18.0
Next up are the mass start races for the youth men and women. Competition begins Friday, March 6, at 15:40 and 16:40, respectively.