Naturalized Athlete Abbakumova Wins First Ever Gold in Biathlon at Winter Asian Games

Naturalized athlete Ekaterina Abbakumova, originally from Russia, made new history by winning South Korea's first-ever gold medal in biathlon at the Winter Asian Games.

Abbakumova won the women's 7.5 km sprint event held on the 11th at the Yabuli Ski Resort in China with a time of 22 minutes 45.4 seconds.

Naturalized player Ekaterina Abbakumova from Russia is crossing the finish line in the women's 7.5 km sprint biathlon event held on the 11th at the Yabuli Ski Resort in China.
Photo by Xinhua News Agency

This was the 12th gold medal for the South Korean delegation at this competition and the first gold medal in biathlon in South Korea's history at the Winter Asian Games. The best previous biathlon result was a silver medal in the men's relay at the 2003 Aomori Games.

Biathlon is a sport combining cross-country skiing and shooting. At the Harbin Winter Asian Games, events include the women's 7.5 km and men's 10 km sprints, as well as the women's 4×6 km relay and men's 4×7.5 km relay.

Abbakumova was a former Russian youth national team member and became a naturalized citizen in 2016. At the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, she placed 16th in the women's 15 km individual event, setting the highest ranking for a South Korean female athlete.

Before this competition, she was expected to place in the sprint event but was not considered a gold medal contender; however, she created an upset and made new history for South Korean biathlon.

In the early part of the race, Abbakumova took the lead up to 2.4 km but then lost the lead to China's Tang Jialin. Running in 2nd to 4th place, Abbakumova was still about 2 seconds behind Tang Jialin at the 6.0 km mark in 2nd place but powered through the final stretch to cross the finish line first.

China's Meng Fanqi, who finished 2.4 seconds behind Abbakumova with a time of 22 minutes 47.8 seconds, took the silver medal, while Tang Jialin, who led in the middle of the race, finished 3rd with a time of 23 minutes 01.0 seconds.

Another naturalized South Korean athlete, Abe Mariya, finished 10th (24 minutes 12.1 seconds), while Ko Eun-jung (Jeonbuk Sports Council) placed 11th (24 minutes 22.0 seconds), and Jung Jumi (Pocheon City Hall) finished 14th (25 minutes 21.5 seconds).