Ukraine Kicks Off the 2026 Junior World Biathlon Championships With Silver: Who Won the Medal
Taras Tarasiuk finished second in the individual race.
Ukrainian Taras Tarasiuk finished second in the youth men's individual race at the Junior World Biathlon Championships, held in Arber, Germany.
Besides Taras, Ukraine in the individual race was represented by Nazarii Savonik, Yaroslav Harkusha, and Kostiantyn Martseniuk.
Earlier, Ukraine's junior national team had its best-ever European Biathlon Championships, breaking into the top three of the medal table. Read our preview of the World Championships here.
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 Men's Individual Race at the 2026 Junior World Biathlon Championships Went for Team Ukraine
- The first Ukrainian to start was Taras Tarasiuk. After a clean first shooting stage, the Ukrainian came out the leader, more than 42 seconds ahead of his closest pursuer.
- The second prone stage didn't go as well for Tarasiuk: the biathlete missed twice, dropping to a provisional third. But Taras shot clean at the next two stages, letting him finish second.
- Nazarii Savonik cleared all the targets at the first prone stage, but missed five times total across the next three stages. As a result, the Ukrainian finished 27th, 7:15.9 behind the winner.
- Yaroslav Harkusha, with four misses, finished 59th, and Kostiantyn Martseniuk closed out the race 70th.
The individual race was won by Latvia's Rihards Lozbergs, who beat Taras Tarasiuk by 54.5 seconds.
2026 Junior World Biathlon Championships Individual Race, Youth Men, 12.5 km: Results
1. Rihards Lozbergs, Latvia (2+0+1+0) +38:21.2
2. Taras Tarasiuk, Ukraine (0+2+0+0) +54.5
3. Giorgi Jorgov, Bulgaria (1+1+1+0) +3:23.9
27. Nazarii Savonik, Ukraine (0+2+1+2) +7:15.9
59. Yaroslav Harkusha, Ukraine (2+0+1+1) +10:44.3
70. Kostiantyn Martseniuk, Ukraine (1+1+1+2) +12:49.5
Next up is the junior men's individual race. The race starts February 28 at 15:30 Kyiv time.