Mass starts on the final day of the 49th Biathlon World Championship in Kontiolahti, Finland

According to BELTA, Valentina Semerenko won gold at the women’s 12,5 km mass start with four shooting positions that took place today at the Biathlon World Championship 2015 in Kontiolahti, Finland.

The time of Valentina Semerenko is 34 min 32,9 sec., plus the new world champion shot clean at her shooting positions. The runner-up of the race was Franziska Preus from Germany (+6,2 sec.; 1 miss). Karin Oberhofer from Italy claimed bronze (+12,6 sec.; 2). The leader of the Belarusian team Darya Domracheva was also a favourite for a medal prize but the last meters of the distance kept her on the 4th position (+14,7 sec.; 2).

Domracheva managed to keep her leading position in the World Cup standings, because her main competitor for the Big Crystal Globe Kaisa Makarainen (Finland) was less successful at today’s mass start. She came 15th (+1 min. 29,7 sec.; 4). According to overall ranking, Domracheva has 957 points and Makarainen – 936. Valentina Semerenko is the third with 766 points.

Alongside with Darya Domracheva another Belarusian biathlete Anastasia Duborezova was competing in mass start. She finished 26th (+3 min. 09,2 sec.; 5) of 30 athletes.

Men’s mass start was the culmination of the 49th Biathlon World Championship in Kontiolahti, Finland. Jakov Fak from Slovenia became the gold medalist.
He covered the distance of 15 km for 36 min. 24, 9 sec. Silver went to Ondrej Moravec with one second gap from the leader, and Tarjei Bo from Finland finished third with 3,7 sec. gap from the winner. All mass start medalists missed once at the shooting positions.

The only Belarusian biathlete in this discipline Yuri Lyadov also had one miss but low speed kept him away from the medal prize. He finished 20th of 30 contestants with a 1 min. 04,9 sec. gap from the leader.
Contrary to what fans and experts expected, Belarusian biathletes failed to win any medals in Kontiolahti. They only managed to take 4th place twice – in mixed relay (Nadezhda Skardino, Darya Domracheva, Vladimir Chepelin, Yuri Lyadov) and in mass start (Darya Domracheva). There was no success for the leader of the Belarusian team either. Apart from bitter “wooden” medal for mass start three time Olympic champion took 25th place in sprint, 7th place in pursuit and 16th in individual race. Besides Domracheva, alongside with Nadezhda Skardino, Irina Krivko and Nadezhda Pisareva, finished 7th in relay. Small Crystal Globe in sprint may be a consolation prize for Dasha, which she got at the penultimate race of the season.

Despite not very outstanding performance, Darya Domracheva kept the leadership in the World Cup standings as her main competitors for the Big Crystal Globe were not as good as they were expected. Kaisa Makarainen from Finland managed to took medal place only once at the world championship at home, claiming bronze in individual race. Veronica Vitkova from Czech Republic, who was the third in overall ranking, didn't get any medal and became the fourth. Valentina Semerenka took her place, winning two medals - gold in mass start and bronze in sprint.

Before the final World Cup stage Darya Domracheva has 957 points, Kaisa Makarainen - 936 points, Valentina Semerenko - 766 points, and Veronica Vitkova scored 714 points.

The leader of the men's overall standings Martin Fourcade also didn't manage to show his best qualities at the World Championships, winning only one medal in personal nominations - gold in individual race. Plus, he has silver and bronze medals in two relays. Another favourite of the season Anton Shipulin (Russia) was among the medalists only once, getting silver in pursuit. Jakov Fak made it to the third position in overall ranking, moving Simon Schempp (Germany) to the fourth place. Simon didn't succeed in individual races, winning gold in men's pursuit only.

Now, Martin Fourcade has 933 points, Anton Shipulin - 822, Jakov Fak - 800, Simon Schempp - 767. All of them are the champions and medalists of Biathlon World Championship 2015 in Kontiolahti.
Mixed relay
1. Czech Republic
2. France
3. Norway

Men's sprint
1. Johannes Bo (Norway)
2. Nathan Smith (Canada)
3. Tarjei Bo (Norway)

Women's sprint
1. Marie Dorin Habert (France)
2. Weronika Nowakowska-Ziemniak (Poland)
3. Valentina Semerenko (Ukraine)

Men's pursuit
1. Erik Lesser (Germany)
2. Anton Shipulin (Russia)
3. Tarjei Bo (Norway)
Women's pursuit
1. Marie Dorin Habert (France)
2. Laura Dahlmeier (Germany)
3. Weronika Nowakowska-Ziemniak (Poland)

Men's individual
1. Martin Fourcade (France)
2. Emil-Hegle Svendsen (Norway)
3. Ondrej Moravec (Czech Republic)

Women's individual
1. Ekaterina Yurlova (Russia)
2. Gabriela Soukalova (Czech Republic)
3. Kaisa Makarainen (Finland)

Women's relay
1. Germany
2. France
3. Italy

Men's relay
1. Germany
2. Norway
3. France

Women's mass start
1. Valentina Semerenko (Ukraine)
2. Franziska Preus (Germany)
3. Karin Oberhofer (Italy)

Men's mass start
1. Jakov Fak (Slovenia)
2. Ondrej Moravec (Czech Republic)
3. Tarjei Bo (Norway)

In non-official medal count the team of France is the first with 6 medals (3 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze). German team is the second - 5 (3, 2, 0), Norwegian biathletes have 7 (1, 2, 4). The athletes from 8 countries also have medals; Czech Republic - 4 (1, 2, 1), Russia - 2 (1, 1, 0), Ukraine - 2 (1, 0, 1), Slovenia -1 (1, 0, 0), Poland - 2 (0, 1, 1), Canada - 1 (0, 1, 0), Italy - 2 (0, 0, 2), Finland - 1 (0, 0, 1).

The biathletes from 38 countries participated in the World Championship.

Now the best biathletes will take in the final World Cup stage, which is held on March 19-22 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The program includes 6 nominations:
March 19
Men's 10 km sprint

March 20
Women's 7,5 km sprint

March 21
Women's 10 km pursuit

Men's 12,5 km pursuit
March 22

Women's 12,5 km mass start
Men's 15 km mass start.

Photos by http://vk.com/biathlon_federation_of_belarus 

Translated by Alexey Sokolov, the student of the 4th year of Interpreting and Translation’s school, MSLU.