Latvian biathlete Andrejs Rastorgujevs won the tenth place in the 12.5-kilometer driving competition at the World Championships in Slovenia on Sunday, but the French won the laurels Emilien Jacqueline

The fastest time was taken by the Frenchman Emilien Jacqueline, who showed great pace in all shooting ranges and closed all targets. He was 7.3 seconds ahead of Sebastian Samuelson of Sweden, while Norwegian Juhann Tinggnes Bay was 8.1 seconds behind. He was the only one in the top three to make mistakes (two) in the shooting range.

Behind the leading three was the Frenchman Kenten Fillon Maye , his compatriot Simon Destier and Norwegian Sturl Holm Leggreid. Rastorgujev closed all targets in the first shooting while lying in the tenth position. In the second line of fire, the biathlete did not close a single goal, but maintained his position, with the current leader Jacqueline from France losing a minute and 15 seconds. Before the third shooting, which had to be done upright, Rastorgujev had recovered for about one second and still took ten places. One mistake in the shooting was not an obstacle for him to move to the eighth position. In the last line of fire, he made another mistake and fell to the tenth position, with Jacqueline losing less than two and a half minutes.

900 meters before the finish, Rastorgujev lost less than two minutes and 23 seconds to the leader, but reached the finish with a deficit of two minutes and 12.1 seconds, winning the tenth place. In the distance, Rastorgujev had the 17th fastest step among 60 biathletes.

On Friday, in the ten-kilometer sprint, Rastorgujev took 15 place and started 53.9 seconds behind the sprint winner Swedish biathlete Martina Ponsiluomas. With a perfect shot, the Swede was 11.2 seconds ahead of the Frenchman Simon Destier and 12.9 seconds ahead of another French biathlete Emilien Jacqueline, who, unlike his teammate, once made a mistake in shooting

This season, Rastorguyev climbed three of the four past runs compared to places in the sprint. The most impressive of them was done in the second stage in Hohfilcen, where he was in 32nd place after the 60th place in the sprint. The Aluksne resident achieved his best place in the World Cup matches in the 2013/2014 season in Oberhof, finishing fourth. Last season, he once entered the top twenty in this discipline.

The best result of a Latvian athlete in the world championships in driving 12.5 kilometers is In 2019 on the Swedish track in Estešund, when Rastorgujev changed the 14th place in the sprint to the sixth in driving. Edgars Mise, Roberts Slotiņš did not start in the sprint on Friday, but did not reach it. Jacqueline won the 2020 World Championships in driving, overtaking Norwegian Juhann Tinggnes Be and Russian Alexander Loginov. The results of the World Championship are also included in the overall ranking of the World Cup. Last season, the French biathlete Emilien Jacqueline remained unbeaten in the overall standings, but the Norwegian Crystal Globe was won by the Norwegian Juhann Tinggnes Be.

Ten kilometers 60 biathletes will go on the track at 16.30. The competition will be broadcast live on the television channel “Eurosport 1”. Baiba Bendika took 26th place in the 7.5-kilometer sprint on Saturday and will start driving one minute and 38.3 seconds behind the Norwegian Tirila Ekhof, who won on Saturday. Last season, Norway’s Tiril Ekhof remained unsurpassed in the overall overtaking standings, but the Italian Dorothy Wirer won the Big Crystal Globe.

The continuation of the championship on Tuesday and on Wednesday there will be matches in the classic distance, on Thursday there will be a pair relay, on Saturday there will be relay, but on Sunday at the end there will be strength in distances with a common start. After the planetary championship, there will be two stages of the Nove Mesto World Cup, but the end of the season is scheduled for the second half of March in Estesund.