HARBIN, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Vladislav Kireyev won Kazakhstan's third gold medal at the Harbin Asian Winter Games, securing the biathlon men's 10km sprint title at Yabuli on Tuesday.
Kireyev lay sixth at the 6.5km mark after leaving the shooting stage, but finished strongly to cross the line first in 29 minutes and 47.4 seconds.
Kireyev's compatriot Vadim Kurales took the silver medal in 30 minutes and 13.1 seconds, while China's Gu Cang and Yan Xingyuan finished third and fourth respectively.
"This is a very important gold and silver medal for Kazakhstan, and we did it," said Kireyev. "I made some mistakes at the beginning, but I caught up in the later stages, and my confidence grew stronger."
"I previously competed in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and achieved good results. Everything here is great," added the 24-year-old. "I hope to continue working well with my teammates and achieve more good results in Thursday's relay."
In the women's 7.5km sprint event, South Korea's Ekaterina Avvakumova showed remarkable strength in the skiing segment, completing the race in 22 minutes and 45.4 seconds to take gold despite having missed two targets in the shooting segment.
"I was very nervous and worried before the race, the course was quite difficult," Avvakumova admitted. "I believed I could make it to the podium, but I didn't expect to win the gold."
China's Meng Fanqi finished just 2.4 seconds behind to earn the silver medal, while veteran compatriot Tang Jialin took the bronze.
The women's 4x6km relay and men's 4x7.5km relay biathlon events take place on Thursday. ■
