Russian biathletes enjoy another harvest at Winter Universiade

Russian biathletes enjoy another harvest at Winter Universiade

MAOERSHAN, Northeast China, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Russian biathletes justified their dominance at the Harbin Winter Universiade again as they gained another two golds of sprint races here on Tuesday.


Gold medalist Artem Gusev (C) of Russia, Silver medalist Oleg Berezhnoy (L) of Ukraine and bronze medalist Jaroslav Soukup of Czech pose for group photos after the men's 10km sprint of biathlon at the Maoershan Ski Resort in Maoershan Town 85km southeast from Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Feb. 24, 2009.

In the men's 10km-sprint, Artem Gusev showed his magic strength in the arena as the Russian won his second gold in a row with a perfect victory.

In the competition comprising 10km skiing and one round rifle shootings of 10 targets, Artem finished first in 25 minutes 44.6 seconds, missing no targets in both standing and prone positions.

After the race, the 26-year-old Russian was so excited to take off his clothes, letting his muscles exposed to the cheering crowds. It was his second gold after the ace skier won the 20-kilometer individual race last Saturday.

Following the Russian, Ukraine's Oleg Berezhnoy and Jaroslav Soukup of the Czech Republic took the silver and bronze respectively in 25:46.5 and 26:11.9.


Bronze medalist Jaroslav Soukup of Czech competes during the men's 10km sprint of biathlon at the Maoershan Ski Resort in Maoershan Town 85km southeast from Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Feb. 24, 2009.

On women's side, Nadezhda Chastina also took a convincing victory at the 7.5km-sprint race, awarding her delegation the fourth gold of biathlon at the Universiade.


Gold medalist Nadezhda Chastina (C) of Russia and her teammate silver medalist Marina Korovina (L) and bronze medalist Agnieszka Grzybek of Porland pose for group photos after the women's 7.5km sprint of biathlon at the Maoershan Ski Resort in Maoershan Town 85km southeast from Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Feb. 24, 2009.

Having grabbed a silver in 15km individual race three days ago, Chastina continued to show her steady performance in Tuesday's 7.5km skiing and one round rifle shootings of 10 targets.

The Russian girl only missed once at the shooting range, which was the best among the top eight biathletes and cost her one extra loop, but she managed to finish the race first with her superior skiing in 22 minutes 49.0 seconds.

Chastina's teammate Marina Korovina and Agnieszka Grzybek of Poland took the silver and bronze respectively in 23:00.9 and 23:04.9.

After Chastina's victory, Russian biathletes have wrapped up all the four golds on offer from the past two-day competitions, aiming to seek gold rush in the coming pursuit, mixed relay and mass start events.


Li Zhonghai competes during the men's 10km sprint of biathlon at the Maoershan Ski Resort in Maoershan Town 85km southeast from Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Feb. 24, 2009. Li Zhonghai ranked the 17th of the event.


Li Zhigguang competes during the men's 10km sprint of biathlon at the Maoershan Ski Resort in Maoershan Town 85km southeast from Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Feb. 24, 2009. Li Zhiguang ranked the 31th of the event.