Athletes who finished in the first three did without penalty laps. The victory was won by the French Theo Giroud-Poilo with a finish in 25 minutes and 43.4 seconds, the German Benjamin Menz lost four seconds, and the Austrian Oliver Leinbacher was 16 seconds behind.
Birkenthal shot flawlessly, 53.5 seconds behind and posted the 29th fastest pace on the course.
Among the Latvians, Imants Malina was four minutes behind with two mistakes in shooting and was 63rd, Kristians Karlsberg measured four penalty rounds and was 70th, Kristers Kalashnikovs was 85th with the same mistakes, and Erast Bobrov missed two targets and was 89th out of 107 biathletes in competition.
For Birkenthal, the main start of the season is the European Junior Championships in Madona, so he will not participate in the World Senior Championships, which are currently taking place in Oberhof, Germany.
Meanwhile, in the 7.5 kilometer sprint for juniors, Estere Wolff won 27th place, Madara Veckalniņa and Elsa Bleidele were in 45th and 46th positions respectively, Elizabete Slotiņa ranked 63rd, and Enia Kalniņa – 68th in the competition of 82 biathletes.
The victory was won by the German Johanna Puff, who measured one penalty lap, finishing in 22 minutes and 13.8 seconds. Wolfa missed one goal and lost two minutes and six seconds, Veckalniņa made a mistake twice, Bleidele – four times, Slotiņa – twice, and Kalniņa – four times.
On Friday, the juniors will try again in the sprint, and on Saturday there will be relays.
Next week, the European Open Junior Championship will take place in Madona.
