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Alex bounces back

 

Alex bounces back

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AOC
Alex bounces back

Australian biathlete Alex Almoukov has delivered an improved performance in the 20km individual event at Whistler Olympic Park today.

Australian biathlete Alex Almoukov has delivered an improved performance in the 20km individual event at Whistler Olympic Park today.

“It was definitely better than the sprint so I was happy with that,” Almoukov said.

Aged just 19, and the second youngest competitor in the field, he shot well to miss only four of 20 shots, including a clean final round in the standing position.

Athletes must complete five laps, with a shooting stop after each of the first four. Each biathlete shoots at 20 targets, the first and third sets of five in the prone position, the second and fourth standing.
“Four penalties isn’t too much considering I did four out of 10 in the sprint event. I was hoping to do just two or one but I was more relaxed with my skiing today and I’m happy with that.”

Almoukov demonstrated a lot of character to bounce back from the disappointment of finishing at the tail of the field in the Sprint earlier in the Games. Today he beat home 10 of his competitors.

Considering Almoukov has been struggling with illness for several weeks and in a sport where athletes’ peak aged around 30 - when strength and endurance peaks - the young Australian has a bright future ahead.

The former cross country skier will now concentrate on the under 26 European championships to round out his season.

Almoukov will take away invaluable experience from these Games and he has really enjoyed the atmosphere and ‘hanging out with my teammates in the Village.’

Today’s gold medal was won by Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen. Two silver medals will be awarded after Svendsen’s teammate Ole Einar Bjoerndalen and Sergey Novikov of Belarus finished with the same time 48:32.0, just 9.5 seconds behind Svendsen.

Andrew Reid
AOC - Whistler Olympic Park

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