The Ukrainian national team won its first gold medal at the 2026 European Biathlon Championships, held in Sjusjøen, Norway. Anastasiia Merkushyna became the continental champion in the women's individual race, reports UNN with reference to the NOC of Ukraine.
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The Ukrainian biathlete performed flawlessly at the shooting ranges - she completed all four shooting stages without errors, avoiding penalty minutes. In addition to accurate shooting, Merkushyna demonstrated a high pace and entered the top 15 in terms of shooting speed.
By the way, four athletes represented Ukraine in the women's individual race at Euro 2026, although six biathletes were included in the preliminary application. Kseniia Prykhodko and Tetiana Tarasiuk did not start, withdrawing directly before the competition began.
Another representative of Ukraine, Valeriia Dmytrenko, managed to get into the top twenty. She made one mistake in the first prone shooting, but passed the next three shooting stages without misses and finished in 19th position, losing to the leader by more than two minutes.
Nadiia Bielkina finished the individual race in 31st place, with two penalty minutes. The least successful performance among Ukrainians was for Liliia Steblyna — seven misses at the ranges and 79th position in the final protocol.
European Championship. Individual race (women):
1. Anastasiia Merkushyna (Ukraine, 0+0+0+0) 45:33.9
2. Samuela Comola (Italy, 0+0+0+1) +3.0
3. Voldiya Galmas-Polen (France, 0+1+1+0) +4.8
19. Valeriia Dmytrenko (Ukraine, 1+0+0+0) +2:26.5
31. Nadiia Bielkina (Ukraine, 1+0+1+0) +4:05.0
79. Liliia Steblyna (Ukraine, 2+3+1+1) +8:25.0