Biathlon: a long-awaited podium for Ukraine
The men’s relay kicked off the final day of competition at the Biathlon World Cup in Nove Mesto (Czech Republic). The Ukrainian quartet of Artem Tyshchenko, Vitalii Mandzyn, Anton Dudchenko and Dmytro Pidruchnyi took third place.
It is quite simply the Ukrainian men’s team’s first podium finish in a relay for five years. The last time they were on the podium was in Nove Mesto during the 2019/2020 season. They finished second behind Norway.
However, the podium was not a foregone conclusion. Halfway through the race, after the relays ofArtem Tyshchenko and Vitalii Mandzyn, Ukraine was only in ninth place, more than a minute from the podium. The third relayist, Anton Dudchenko, drove a very good race and put his team back in fifth place before the final stint, but still just over a minute off the podium.
It was then the turn of Ukrainian team captain Dmytro Pidruchnyi. He took advantage of mistakes by Italy’s Didier Bionaz and Switzerland’s Arnaud du Pasquier to lift his country to a long-awaited podium finish.
More generally, the last Ukrainian podium was more than 3 years ago, when Darya Blashko and Artem Tyshchenko finished third in the mixed singles relay inOberhof (Germany) during the 2021/2022 season.
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