Iourieva Indy Biathlon Winner at Pokljuka
Ekaterina Iourieva, leader of the Russian national women's biathlon team, has won a competition at the World Cup level for the first time in her career. The 24-year-old sportswoman won the women's 15-km. individual biathlon in Pokljuka, Slovenia, yesterday, showing perfect accuracy at all four firing points and beating Italian Michela Ponza by almost a minute.
The third day of the event started out unpromisingly for the Russian team. The men's team performed disappointingly in the 20-km. event. Both experienced and novice marksmen were in poor form. The best marksman on the team, Ivan Cherezov, came in 17th. Senior coach Vladimir Alikin warned the day before that the warm (+9 degrees C), windy weather would make for an unpredictable competition. He obviously did not expect these surprises, however. The weather affected other athletes less. The young Norwegian Emil Helge Svendsen, for example, and German Alexander Wolf, came in first and second, respectively, with zero and one miss, compared to Cherezov's five.
Iourieva was also unhindered by the wind. She claimed that the weather miraculously stilled as she was aiming, though. And her skis slid perfectly. She did not remember passing German Magdalena Neuner sometime in the second half of the race. Iourieva, who won three silver medals at Hochfilzen, in sprint, pursuit and relay race, moved up from fifth to third pace yesterday in the overall ranking, following German Martina Glagow and Frenchwoman Sandrine Bailly.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 14, 2007
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