Stremous finished second out of 125 competitors in the race, covering the course in 21 minutes 44.2 seconds. She lost 44 seconds to the winner Paula Bothe from France and was six seconds ahead of another Frenchwoman – Voldia Galmas Polen. The Moldovan biathlete managed to demonstrate an excellent result largely due to her error-free shooting – she overcame two firing ranges (10 shots) without a single miss.
Two other representatives of Moldova, who took part in the sprint, did not make it to the top 100. Elizaveta Hlusovic was 115th, finishing more than six minutes behind the winner with one miss. Alina Rusu finished 121st, nine and a half minutes behind Bothe and missed four times.
Stremous was unable to build on her success in the second sprint race two days later. She finished 19th one minute and 5.5 seconds behind winner Anna-Karin Heidenberg of Sweden and with two misses in her passive. Alina Stremous was the only Moldovan representative in this race.
In the pursuit race, in which 60 best biathletes participate according to the results of sprint races, Alina Stremous became 13th, having covered the distance of 10 km in 32 minutes 39.5 seconds (one minute 54 seconds longer than the winner – Heidenberg) and having made five misses at four firing points.
According to the results of the first stage, Stremous is in sixth place among the 58 participants of the IBU Cup ranking, who won points in the races. The Moldovan biathlete earned 125 points. The leader of the championship race is Anna-Karin Heidenberg (230 points), Bote with 192 points is in second place, Rebecca Passler from Italy with 155 points closes the top three.
Alina Stremous was born in Russia and has represented Moldova since 2020. At last year’s Biathlon World Cup in Kontiolahti (Finland), she finished 15th in the 7.5km sprint, thus achieving her personal best result during her time in the elite. The athlete is also the European champion and vice-champion.
The IBU Cup is the second most prestigious tournament in biathlon. The strongest athletes participate in the World Cup, while in the IBU Cup are represented reserve and young biathletes, building up the experience of performances. During the current season athletes are preparing for the most important competitions – XXV Winter Olympic Games, which will be held from February 6 to 22, 2026 in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in northern Italy.
The second round of the IBU Cup will be held from December 11 to 14 in Ridnau-Val-Ridanna (Italy).
