Bulgaria concluded its participation in the girls' category at the Summer Biathlon World Championship in Otepää, Estonia, with a triumph. In the 7.5 km pursuit race, the Bulgarian athletes took the top two spots, with Valentina Dimitrova claiming the gold and Lora Hristova taking the silver. Valentina finished with four missed shots, while Lora (five misses) crossed the finish line 23.9 seconds behind her. The bronze went to Czech athlete Ilona Plechásová, who had three shooting errors and finished 37 seconds behind the winner.
Thus, the Bulgarian girls won all the world titles in their category, after Lora Hristova triumphed in the supersprint three days ago and Valentina Dimitrova claimed gold in the sprint yesterday. Valentina, Lora, and Stefani were part of the Bulgarian relay team that won bronze at the World Junior Championships in Salt Lake City two years ago. Last summer, Bulgaria also won three gold medals, with Lora Hristova dominating all disciplines and becoming the most decorated biathlete at the World Junior Championships in Osrblie, Slovakia.
In the men's 10 km pursuit today in Otepää, Ukrainian Vitaliy Mandzin won his second title, while the Bulgarian athletes finished in the following positions: 12th - Konstantin Vasilev, 1:09 minutes behind the winner with five shooting errors; 24th - Georgi Naumov (seven misses); 30th - Georgi Djorgov (seven misses); 33rd - Veselin Belchinski (nine misses); and 36th - Nikolay Nikolov (eight misses). None of the participants finished with clean shooting, and the three medalists each had four missed shots.
Bulgaria's participation in the World Championship in Estonia concludes later today with Milena Todorova in the mass start. There are no Bulgarian representatives in the men's final event.
Leave a comment