Jump to content

Lidija Žurauskaitė

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lidija Žurauskaitė
Žurauskaitė in 2024
Personal information
NationalityLithuanian
Born (1999-04-09) 9 April 1999 (age 25)
Murmansk, Russia
Professional information
SportBiathlon
IBU Cup debut2023
World Cup debut2023
World Championships
Teams1 (2024)
World Cup
Seasons1 (2023/24-)
European/IBU Cup
Seasons1 (2023/24-)

Lidija Žurauskaitė or Lidiia Zhurauskaite (Russian: Лидия Жураускайте; born 9 April 1999) is a Lithuanian biathlete. She has competed in the Biathlon World Cup since 2023.[1]

Career

[edit]

Lidija Žurauskaitė has had a relatively short international career. After participating in several races at the national level, she first drew attention in the summer of 2022 when she renounced her Russian citizenship by her own request and, due to family background, adopted Lithuanian citizenship. The background for this decision was the exclusion of Russian athletes from all biathlon events and the goal of competing in the 2026 Olympics. The exit was personally approved by Vladimir Putin.[2][3]

Her first races for the Lithuanian Biathlon Federation were at the 2022 Summer Biathlon World Championships, after which she did not compete internationally for some time, returning only at the 2023 Summer Biathlon World Championships, where she placed 30th in the Super Sprint. At the beginning of the 2023/24 winter season, the Lithuanian made her debut in the IBU Cup, finishing 27th in the Kontiolahti individual race, which led to her immediate inclusion in the rather thinly populated World Cup squad. Her first pursuit race at the highest level was in December at Lenzerheide, and she performed even better during the weekend in Oberhof in early January 2024, where Žurauskaitė, despite a shooting miss, won her first World Cup points by finishing 31st in the sprint. In the subsequent pursuit, she dropped back to 54th place.

Žurauskaitė made her debut at the World Championship in 2024 in Nové Mesto with participation in the mixed relay.[4]

Biathlon results

[edit]

All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.

World Championships

[edit]
Event Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass start Relay Mixed relay Single mixed relay
Czech Republic 2024 Nové Mesto 43rd 60th 57th 17th

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Lidiia Zhurauskaite". www.realbiathlon.com.
  2. ^ Zeitung, Süddeutsche (2022-07-22). "Kremlchef entlässt Biathletin aus Staatsbürgerschaft". Süddeutsche.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-03-05.
  3. ^ "Российскую биатлонистку лишили гражданства. Неприятный кейс Лидии Жураускайте". sport-express.ru (in Russian). 2022-07-22. Retrieved 2024-03-05.
  4. ^ "Biatlono rinktinės lyderis įvertino pasaulio čempionato startą: "Nedžiugina"". 15min.lt/sportas (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 2024-03-05.
[edit]