January 31, 2016 (Cheile Gradistei, Romania) – The USA’s Sean Doherty, 20, from Center Conway, N.H. delivered a fabulous gold on Sunday in the Junior Men’s 12.5km Pursuit claiming a record-setting 10th individual medal of his career at the IBU Youth/Junior World Championships in Cheile Gradistei, Romania. It was his third medal at these championships having earned bronze in the 15km individual and silver in the 10km sprint.

Doherty showed no signs of pressure as he came into the final shooting stage alone and cleaned all targets securing a nearly 30-second lead that he held to the finish. “I could not be happier right now,” said a jubilant Doherty. “This race today was the perfect way to end my career as a junior. I could not have even imagined a better race. I want to say thank you to everyone who was cheering on any continent.”

Doherty started the pursuit in second place after yesterday’s sprint, 11.5 seconds behind leader Felix Leitner of Austria. He was stride-for-stride with Leitner after cleaning the first prone, but fell 21 seconds back after a miss at the second prone stage. However, two misses by Leitner at the first standing, coupled with just one miss by Doherty, propelled Doherty into the lead by 13 seconds with five kilometers and five shots remaining.

When he went clean in the final standing, Doherty had sewn up the victory, crossing the line in 36:01.1 at 29.6 seconds ahead of Russia’s Nikita Porshnev and 38.8s up on Leitner. The top Canadian was Aidan Miller in 37th with one penalty at 6:00 behind the winner.

Doherty, a 2014 Olympian, finishes his youth/junior career with four gold medals, four silver medals and two bronze medals in the individual competitions at the IBU Youth/Junior World Championships.

In the junior women’s 10km pursuit American Maddie Phaneuf raced to her third top-10 finish of the week, crossing the line in ninth place with four penalties at 2:08.8 behind. Earlier in the week, Phaneuf placed fifth in the 12.5km individual and seventh in the 7.5km sprint.

“I was a bit bummed to have missed two in my last stage, but happy with my third top-10 finish for the week,” said Phaneuf. The top Canadian was Leilani Tam Von Burg in 33rd with three penalties at 6:13.2 behind.

Sweden’s Hanna Oeberg won the gold with clean shooting, while Switzerland’s Lena Haecki claimed the silver despite six penalties at 13.7s back while France’s Chloe Chevalier rounded out the podium in third with two penalties at 41.9s back.

In the youth women’s 7.5km pursuit, Canadian Megan Bankes was the top North American in 18th with seven penalties at 3:47 behind winner Arina Pantova (Kaz) with one penalty and a time of 27:15.2. Anna Kryvonos (Ukr) was second with three penalties at 3.4s back while Marina Sauter (Ger) claimed third with two penalties at 1:02.9 behind.

Canada’s Nadia Moser placed 24th with eight penalties at 4:52 behind while the top American was Claire Waichler who made the biggest jump in placements moving up 25 places from her start position of 58th to a finish of 33rd.

Canada’s Teo Sanchez led the North Americans again in the Youth Men’s 10km Pursuit finishing 17th with one penalty at 4:54 behind winner Viacheslav Maleev (Rus) who also had two missed targets. Fellow Canuck Adam Runnalls was just behind placing 19th with four penalties at 5:10. The top American was Brendan Cyr who moved up from 46th to 35th with three penalties at 6:49.0 behind.

The relays will take center stage over the final two days of the IBU Youth/Junior World Championships with the youth relays being held on Monday, followed by the junior relays on Tuesday.

Junior men’s pursuit results here.
Junior women’s pursuit results here.
Youth women’s pursuit results here.
Youth men’s pursuit results here.