Fire vs. Ice: The battle for gold

Yesterday’s most memorable moment was the Air Rifle Solo Women Junior final. It was a clash of two completely different characters: Elif Berfin Altun from Türkiye and Synnoeve Berg from Norway.

It was a classic battle of “Fire and Ice”. On one side, we saw the Norwegian athlete – calm, cold, and incredibly focused. On the other side was the bright and dynamic energy from Türkiye. Two different paths to victory met to decide who could do more here and now.

The tension was so high that at the very end, the Turkish coach called a time-out. He needed to calm Elif down and give her a final boost. It worked perfectly. Elif took the gold, adding it to her collection of wins from the ESC Champions League and the 2025 Youth Festival in Skopje.

The Air Pistol Trio Women Junior saw a strong performance from the AIN athletes, who took both gold and silver. The Latvian trio also did a great job to secure the bronze.

In the Air Pistol Trio Men Junior, the Polish team showed great teamwork to win gold. It was a big moment for the Bulgarian team too – they took silver in front of their home fans, while team AIN finished in third place.

In Air Rifle Solo Men Junior, German athletes were the stars of the day. Benedikt Ascher and Luis Eichenseer showed world-class precision, taking first and second place for Germany.

Yesterday's Results Summary:

Air Rifle Solo Women Junior
Gold – Elif Berfin Altun (TUR)
Silver – Synnoeve Berg (NOR)
Bronze – Anete Tukisa (LAT)

Air Rifle Solo Men Junior
Gold – Benedikt Ascher (GER)
Silver – Luis Eichenseer (GER)
Bronze – Džiugas Morkūnas (LTU)

Air Pistol Trio Women Junior
Gold – Viktoriia Kholodnaia, Iasmina Mukhtarova, Iuliia Tretiakova (AIN)
Silver – Katsiaryna Ivanova, Alina Niestsiarovich, Aliaksandra Piatrova (AIN)
Bronze – Kristiana Agule, Alise Dvariske, Liva Krumina (LAT)

Air Pistol Trio Men Junior
Gold – Ivan Rakitski, Wiktor Lukasz Kopiwoda, Piotr Burewicz (POL)
Silver – Viktor Todorov Bonev, Damyan Iliev, Petar Vladimirov Ivanov (BUL)
Bronze – Vladislav Makarov, Artem Anisov, Islam Shamsutdinov (AIN)

Congratulations to all the medalists! We wish the best of luck to everyone stepping up to the firing line on the final day of the Junior Championship!

Check out the photo report here.

---

Leave a comment