Moldova at the 2022 Winter Olympics

Qualification

The qualification criteria for the biathlon events was based on the points accumulated by the National Olympic Committees (NOC) for individual results achieved by the nation's participants in the 2020–21 and 2021–22 Biathlon World Cups. Based on the points table released on 16 January 2022 by the International Biathlon Union (IBU), the NOCs in the top 28 were granted specific number of places based on their ranking. Moldova was granted four places including two for women based on the IBC points for nations ranked outside the automatic placings.^[12]

Moldova sent a team of four athletes who competed in six individual events. Despite the eligibility, the Moldovan team did not enter the mixed relay competition.^[13] In the men's category, this was the first Winter Games for the 33-year old Pavel Magazeev and 26-year old Maksim Makarov.^[14][15] In the women's category, Alla Ghilenko and Alina Stremous also made their debuts at the Games. Ghilenko was born in Ukraine, while Stremous was born in Russia.^[16][17]

Event

Biathlon competitions were held from 6 to 20 February in the Zhangjiakou Nordic and Biathlon Centre in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province.^[18] The biathlon events consisted of a skiing a specific course multiple times depending on the length of the competition, with intermediate shooting at various positions. For every shot missed, a penalty of one minute is applied in individual events, and the participant is required to ski through a penalty loop in sprint events.^[19][20]

In the men's individual event, Magazeev finished 26th amongst the 92 competitors with a time of over 52 minutes and 41 seconds.^[20] In the sprint event, Magazeev finished 79th while Makarov crossed the finish line further back in 93rd place more than two minutes behind his compatriot.^[19] Ghilenko participated in two women's events where she was ranked 72nd and 86th in the individual and sprint events respectively.^[11] Stremous participated in all four women's individual events. She recorded the best finish of all Moldovan competitors including a top ten finish in the sprint event, where she did not miss a single shooting target.^[21]

Qualification

As per the qualification criteria laid down by the International Luge Federation, a total of 106 spots were available for the Games. The qualification was based on the cumulative world ranking points from 1 July 2021 to 10 January 2022. The NOCs of the top ranked 50 athletes received an entry into the respective men or women's event. The remaining spots were distributed to the NOCs additionally based on their rankings.^[22] Moldova received one spot in the women's event based on the results from the 2021–22 Luge World Cup season.^[23] Flag-bearer Doina Descalui made her debut at the Games.^[24]

Competition

The event was held on 7 and 8 February 202 at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre in West Dazhuangke, Yanqing district.^[25] In her first run, Descalui clocked a time of 1:01.928, finishing more than three seconds behind the leader Natalie Geisenberger. In the second run, she clocked 1:02.129 to be ranked 31st amongst the 35 participants. In the third run, she completed the circuit with a time of 1:02.174 to be ranked 32nd. As only the top 20 finishers advanced to the fourth run, she was classified in the 32nd position in the overall table.^[25]