Kazakhstan’s Galina Vishnevskaya claimed her second biathlon gold medal of the 2017 Winter Universiade after winning the women’s 12.5 kilometer mass start event on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old home favorite clocked an unrivaled time of 36 min 15.4sec at the Alatau Cross-Country Skiing and Biathlon Complex to add to her success in the women’s 7.5km sprint last week.
She hit all the targets during the first three shooting rounds and despite missing once in the last, it did not prevent her from securing victory.
Closest challenger Yana Bondar of Ukraine was 1:02.3 behind, while Russia’s Larisa Kuklina was 1:13.1 back in third place.
“Today, the weather was perfect,” said Vishnevskaya, who also won silver medals here in the women’s 15km individual and mixed relay events.
“The race went well for me.
“The spectators supported me, motivating me to win.
“I have managed to come first thanks to my experience.”
Kazakhstan’s Darya Ussanova lost her chance of winning a medal after missing four targets during the last shooting round, ending up in fifth place behind compatriot Yelizaveta Belchenko.
In the men’s 15km mass event, France’s Baptiste Jouty came out on top with a time of 43:30.0.
Kazakhstan’s Roman Yeryomin finished 13.5 off the pace to take silver, while fellow countryman Anton Pantov was 27.7 back in the bronze medal position.
Victory for Jouty ensured his second gold medal of the 2017 Winter Universiade having triumphed in the men’s 20km individual event last week.
Russia topped the overall biathlon medal standings with three golds, four silvers and five bronzes.
Kazakhstan finished second with three golds, three silvers and two bronzes, while France came third with Jouty’s two golds.
By Daniel Etchells
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz.