STA, 6 December 2018 - Slovenia's Jakov Fak started the new Biathlon World Cup season at the home venue of Pokljuka with a 4th place in the men's individual 20-km race on Thursday. Victory went to Martin Fourcade of France.
Fak was 34.4 seconds behind the winner as he missed one shot to squander a good chance for a podium finish.
Also finishing ahead of the Olympic runner-up in the discipline were Johannes Kühn of Germany, who was 4.2 seconds behind the winner and the Austrian veteran Simon Eder, who finished 19.7 seconds behind the French.
It was the 75th Biathlon World Cup win for Fourcade, who was perfect at shooting, as were Kühn and Eder.
It was the fifth win in a row for the French. "I like it here. I'm proud of winning race after race," he told reporters.
Fak was meanwhile not happy about the missed shot. "My legs were not in the best shape on the track. I hope that it will be better tomorrow," he said in reference to the men's sprint on Friday.
They will be competing without a day of rest, as today's race had been scheduled to take place yesterday but was moved to today due to thick fog.
"I hope that everybody got tired today. The younger you are, the easier is to recuperate. And I'm not among the youngest any more," said the 31-year-old.
The race will be followed by the women's 15-km individual race, starting at 2:15 PM. Slovenia will be represented by Urška Poje, Polona Klemenčič and Lea Einfalt.
* Results: 1 Martin Fourcade (FRA) 47:09,2/0 missed shots 2 Johannes Kühn (GER) + 4.2/0 3 Simon Eder (AUT) 19.7/2 4 Jakov Fak (SLO) 34.4/1 5 Simon Schempp (GER) 38.6/1 6 Sergij Semenov (UKR) 45.0/0 7 Johannes Thingnes Boe (NOR) 1:11.9/3 8 Antonin Guigonnat (FRA) 1:13.5/1 9 Sebastian Samuelsson (SWE) 1:18.5/2 10 Lars Helge Birkeland (NOR) 1:22.0/1 ... 56 Rok Tršan (SLO) 4:02.6/2 71 Klemen Bauer (SLO) 5:14.0/5 75 Miha Dovžan (SLO) 5:43.3/5 92 Mitja Drinovec (SLO) 7:32.9/5
Ukraine's Dzhima wins women's 15km biathlon event at Pokljuka
STA, 6 December 2018 - Ukrainian biathlete Yuliia Dzhima is the winner of Thursday's individual 15km event for women as part of the Biathlon World Cup meet at Slovenia's Pokljuka, followed by Monika Hojnisz of Poland and Marketa Davidova of the Czech Republic.
The winner did not miss any of her shots and finished the race in 43:06.6, beating Hojnisz by 5.9 seconds and Davidova by 16.5 seconds, both of whom had to run one penalty loop.
It was the first World Cup win for Dzhima, who is coached by Slovenian Uroš Velepec. "Last year I had hoped for a win. This year I decided to get it. I'm happy and I hope that this is not my last win," she told reporters.
The best out of the three Slovenians to compete in the race was Lea Einfalt, who finished 77th, more than six minutes behind Dzhima in what was her debut appearance in the Biathlon World Cup.
Einfalt, who competed in cross-country skiing until last year and today's race was only her fourth ever as a biathlete, missed four shots, but she said she was satisfied with the overall performance.
"But I will be really happy when I manage to shoot perfectly and run fast. I was nervous a little bit. I can't wait for Saturday, the ice has been broken and I know I'll be much more relaxed," she said about the women's sprint.
* Results: 1 Yuliia Dzhima (UKR) 43:06.6/0 missed shots 2 Monika Hojnisz (POL) + 5.9/1 3 Marketa Davidova (CZE) 16.5/1 4 Paulina Fialkova (SVK) 19.5/2 5 Baiba Bendika (LAT) 20.8/0 6 Lisa Vitozzi (ITA) 27.1/1 7 Dorothea Wierer (ITA) 33.4/2 8 Hanna Oeberg (SWE) 49.1/2 9 Lisa Hauser (AUT) 55.3/1 10 Franziska Preuss (GER) 59.1/1 ... 77 Lea Einfalt (SLO) 6:06.4/4 78 Polona Klemenčič (SLO) 6:37.9/4 91 Urška Poje (SLO) 7:50.0/5
