Wanaka athlete Campbell Wright has finished in 75th position in the Men’s 10km Sprint Competition at the IBU Biathlon World Championships held in Pokljuka, Slovenia overnight.

The result has been described as ‘significant’ in a statement issued by Snow Sports New Zealand (SSNZ) this morning (Thursday February 25).

“At initial glance 75th place may not seem like too much to celebrate, but diving more deeply it becomes obvious that Wright’s performance was significant for a variety of reasons,” the statement read.

One of the reasons is that Campbell incurred three penalty loops (1min 15 sec) due to missing three shots. Two of the shots were split bullets (a split bullet is one which has a fault and it splits when fired, which means that there is no way it can hit the target).

“Campbell was 2min 45.8secs behind the winner, Martin Ponsiluoma (SWE), who shot clear in both rounds. Campbell missed three shots at the range. Arguably the reason for his missed shots was that two of his bullets were split, which unfortunately is just bad luck. Without those shot misses Campbell would’ve finished just 1min 30.7secs behind Ponsiluoma,” Campbell’s coach Luca Bormolini said.

In the Biathlon world Campbell, at just 18-years-old, is considered incredibly young - the average age of the podium was 26.3 years. Campbell was more than two years younger than any other competitor at the event.

Luca said Campbell has the ability to close the speed gap as he matures over the next couple of years, and without the split bullets he would have placed around 40th.   

Campbell will now prepare for the FIS World X-Country Championships in Oberstdorf Germany, followed by the IBU Junior Biathlon World Championships where he competes with his own age group.

Campbell is attempting to qualify for the 2022 Beijing Olympics at the FIS World X-Country Championships.

Campbell, who is from Hāwea Flat, trains at the Snow Farm in the Cardrona Valley during the New Zealand winter.

PHOTOS: Filippo Maddalin