Poland's Tomasz Sikora won the men's 20km individual race at the European Championships in Nove Mesto.

The 34-year-old missed only one shot, at his final visit to the range, and crossed the line in 50:29.5, 19.6 seconds ahead of home favourite Michal Slesingr.

Sikora was sure of his sixth European gold when his nearest rival Slesingr also missed a target at his final visit to the range.

Russian Sergey Balandin finished with bronze after a perfect performance with the rifle.

Sikora, who is 15th in the World Cup, was the highest ranked athlete in a field missing all of the leading racers from the strongest nations.

Natalia Levtchenkova of Moldova took the women's 15km individual gold after hitting all 20 shots at the range.

Her time of 55:45.7 was 58.7 seconds quicker than Norway's Kjersti Isaksen with Ukraine's Lilia Vaygina-Efremova quickest over the snow but three errant shots meant she had to settle for bronze.

Levtchenkova, who has had three top ten finishes in the World Cup, took advantage of three misses at the opening shoot from favourite Magdalena Gwizdon who could only finish 20th.

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