Selina Grotian (born 25 March 2004) is a German biathlete.[1] She won multiple gold medals at youth and junior world championships in 2022 and 2023, respectively.[2] In the 2023 European Championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, she won the gold medal in the pursuit race.[3]
Career
Selina Grotian started her cross-country skiing at the age of six, and biathlon at the age of nine following in her two older brothers footsteps. She competes for the Skiclub Mittenwald, her hometown, and is trained by Bernhard Kröll, Albert Neuner and Benedikt Ertl at the biathlon base of the Skigau Werdenfels in Kaltenbrunn.[4]
For the 2020–21 season, she was introduced to the junior squad by the German Ski Association. In the same season, she qualified for the Youth and Junior World Championships in Obertilliach after winning internal qualifications.[5] There she won bronze in the sprint. In addition, she took eleventh in singles, eighth in the pursuit and fourth in the team relay.[6]
For the 2021–22 season, she made her debut in the IBU Junior Cup in Pokljuka, Slovenia. In the first race of the season, she narrowly missed victory by just 0.8 seconds. The following week, Grotian won the gold medal in the sprint and then also in the pursuit at the European Junior Championships taking place in the same place with the best running time.[7] At the 2022 World Junior Biathlon Championships in Soldier Hollow, USA, Grotian participated at the youth age group, winning a bronze in individual race. In the sprint she missed a medal with 4th place and subsequent pursuit race, she achieved the gold medal. Concluding the tournament, she finished the competition as the most successful youth athlete with the silver medal in the team relay race.[8]
For the 2022/23 season, Selina Grotian has been accepted by the German Ski Association into the junior team, although she is still in the youth class. At the beginning of the season, she qualified for the German IBU Cup team and made her debut at the senior level in Idre, Sweden. There she won her first career victory at the senior level in the sprint race.
At the highlight of the IBU Cup season, Grotian won the pursuit race of the European Biathlon Championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. In addition, she achieved the silver medal in the mixed relay and bronze in the individual.[9]
At the 2023 World Junior Biathlon Championships, she won four gold medals in women's sprint, pursuit, relay, and mixed-relay races in Shchuchinsk, Kazakhstan.[10][11][12][13] After successful races at IBU cup competitions and junior world championships, she made her IBU World cup debut race in sprint discipline on 18 March 2023 in Oslo, Norway. However, she missed two targets on stand shooting even though didn't miss a target on prone shooting and took 44th place.[14]
