The Ukrainian biathlon team started the 2025/26 season unsuccessfully. This was reported by UNN.
Details
In the first race of the opening stage of the World Cup in Östersund, Sweden, the women's team, consisting of sisters Valeriia and Khrystyna Dmytrenko, as well as Olena Horodna and Oleksandra Merkushyna, finished 15th in the relay, despite having no penalty laps. France won, Italy took silver, and the Czech Republic took bronze.
The Ukrainian men's team also did not surprise. The result of the quartet consisting of Artem Tyshchenko, Vitaliy Mandzyn, Bohdan Tsymbal, and Dmytro Pidruchnyi could have been even worse than the girls', however, the latter corrected the situation in the final stage. As a result, they finished 9th. The top three are as follows: Norway, France, Sweden.
On Sunday, Östersund will host single mixed and classic mixed relays.
Recall
Ukrainian biathlete Vitaliy Mandzyn was nominated by the IBU for the "Rookie of the Season" award for 2024/25. In the season, the 22-year-old athlete won a bronze medal in the relay, was 4th in the individual race, and 31st in the overall World Cup standings.