As of: February 9, 2024, 5:45 p.m
By: Sascha Mehr
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Biathlon world champion Dmytro Pidruchnyi receives bad news shortly before the start of the world championships in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic.
Nove Mesto – The Biathlon World Championships in the Czech Republic is the highlight of the season that the athletes have been working towards.
The aim is to be in top form there and achieve great success.
For Dmytro Pidruchnyi, the races shortly before the start of the World Championship suddenly took a back seat because the 32-year-old received the news that a friend had died in the Ukraine War.
Biathlon star receives terrible news
Pidruchnyi posted a picture of the friend in war gear on his Instagram account.
“It's always hard to read when war has claimed a life.
But it's even harder when you've lost a friend.
There are not enough words to describe how much anger and hatred I feel for the Russians and their country right now.
Rest in peace, hero,” he wrote underneath.
Shortly after receiving this terrible news, the Ukrainian competed in the mixed doubles competition at the World Championships and landed with his team in seventh place.
Certainly not an easy situation for Pidruchnyi, who will also take part in the other World Championship races.
Dmytro Pidruchnyi suffered a heavy loss.
© FrankHoermann/SVEN SIMON via www.imago-images.de
The 32-year-old himself was already deployed in the Ukraine war.
He had to cancel the 2021/2022 season in February 2022 due to the Russian war of aggression and began his military service.
Pidruchnyi supported the National Guard in his hometown of Ternopil.
After several months, he ended his military service and was able to train again - a step back to normality.
Ex-biathlon world champion with numerous injuries
After his comeback in the World Cup, things didn't go according to plan for the Ukrainian.
In the 2022/2023 season he had to undergo knee surgery and missed large parts of the first half of the season.
There was even talk of a possible end to his career.
In August 2023, he fell on his racing bike during preparatory training and broke his elbow.
But the 32-year-old didn't give up and fought his way back again.
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Pidruchnyi made his Biathlon World Cup debut in 2013.
By far his greatest success to date was the gold medal in the pursuit at the 2019 World Championships in Östersund.
It was also the only time in his career that he achieved a podium in a World Cup race.
At the Olympics, his best result was a 13th place in the sprint in Beijing 2022. (
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