Taras Tarasiuk Misses Twice but Makes the Top 10 in the Youth Men's Sprint at the 2026 Junior World Biathlon Championships
Meanwhile, Yaroslav Harkusha was one of only two athletes to shoot a clean race.
17-year-old Taras Tarasiuk was the top Ukrainian in the sprint at the Junior World Biathlon Championships, held March 3 in Arber, Germany — finishing ninth. Besides him, Kyrylo Kulchytskyi, Nazarii Savonik, and Yaroslav Harkusha also competed in the 7.5 km race.
The day before, in the World Championships' mixed relays, the national team posted results outside the flower ceremony — the youth men and women finished eighth, and the junior men and women (U21) finished 13th, their worst-ever result at the tournament.
As a result, ahead of the fourth competition day of the 2026 Junior World Biathlon Championships, Ukraine held seventh place in the overall medal table with three medals.
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 Ukrainian Youth Men's Sprint Went at the 2026 Junior World Biathlon Championships
- Taras Tarasiuk, who earlier opened Team Ukraine's medal count in Germany, started the race with bib number 16. The athlete missed once at each shooting stage, finishing ninth and the only Ukrainian inside the scoring zone.
- Kyrylo Kulchytskyi was already more than 30 seconds behind the leader heading into the first shooting stage. After missing at the prone stage, he gave up the fight for the top 20, and later added another miss at the standing stage.
- Nazarii Savonik also couldn't shoot clean at the first stage — he came out with one miss, behind Kulchytskyi's split, then missed twice more at the standing stage.
- Yaroslav Harkusha started the race in the final starting group. He was the only athlete besides champion Tomas Sklenarik to clear all 10 targets, but still lost significant time on the course — finishing more than 2.5 minutes behind the Slovak.
World champion in the youth men's sprint was Slovakia's Tomas Sklenarik. Second and third went to representatives of Latvia and Germany — Rihards Lozbergs and Hans Lipfert, respectively.
2026 Junior World Biathlon Championships Sprint, Youth Men, 7.5 km: Results
1. Tomas Sklenarik, Slovakia 18:28.6
2. Rihards Lozbergs, Latvia (2+1) +19.0
3. Hans Lipfert, Germany (1+0) +44.8
...
10. Taras Tarasiuk, Ukraine (1+1) +1:11.2
41. Kyrylo Kulchytskyi, Ukraine (1+1) +2:25.8
44. Yaroslav Harkusha, Ukraine (0+0) +2:37.1
67. Nazarii Savonik, Ukraine (1+2) +3:33.6
The next sprint at the Junior World Biathlon Championships will be the junior men's (U21) race. Start time: March 3 at 15:30 Kyiv time.