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Ekaterina Avvakumova earns Korea's first-ever biathlon gold at Asian Games

Published: 11 Feb. 2025, 14:59 Updated: 11 Feb. 2025, 18:14

PAIK JI-HWAN
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Ekaterina Avvakumova competes during the biathlon women's 7.5-kilometer sprint race at the Asian Winter Games in Yabuli, China on Feb. 11. [XINHUA/YONHAP]

Russia-born Korean biathlete Ekaterina Avvakumova brought Korea its first gold medal in biathlon at the Asian Winter Games on Tuesday by finishing first in the women’s 7.5-kilometer sprint at the Yabuli Ski Resort in Yabuli, China.

Avvakumova finished her race in 22:45.04 to top the podium, surpassing silver medalist Meng Fanqi and bronze medalist Tang Jialin of China.

Avvakumova’s gold marks Korea’s highest finish in biathlon at the Asiad. The country secured one silver and six bronzes in the sport at previous competitions.

Biathlon is a sport that combines cross-country skiing with rifle shooting. Athletes ski through a cross-country trail with shooting rounds interspersed throughout. Missed shots result in penalty loops or added time, and the winner is determined based on their combined skiing record and shooting accuracy.

The Asian Games gold medal is the highest honor Avvakumova has achieved since becoming a Korean citizen through special naturalization in 2016.

The Korea Biathlon Union requested that the Ministry of Justice allow her to become a Korean citizen, as the union reportedly attempted to expand its athlete pool for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.

That call proved to be a success for Korea's biathlon campaign in Pyeongchang, as Avvakumova recorded the joint highest finish among Koreans in Olympics history. She finished 16th in the 15-kilometer individual race.

Avvakumova also represented Korea at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, but failed to surpass her Olympic record and returned home empty-handed. But her gold medal at this year's Asian Games suggests that Korea still has a future in biathlon.

Avvakumova’s gold adds more success to Korea’s medal-rich run at this year’s Asiad, where the country has collected over 30 medals to sit in second place on the medal rankings behind host country China as of press time Tuesday.

Korea has four more days of action to catch through the end of the Asiad on Friday, with multiple contests still scheduled in figure skating, curling and snowboarding.

Team Korea is competing in all 11 sports at this year’s Asian Games.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]