“They just worked phenomenally”: what did Russian biathletes say after victories in relay races at the QM stage in Oberhof

"The girls have worked phenomenally"

Sunday, January 13, 2019, will go down in history of Russian biathlon for a long time, because the Russian men's and women's teams won the relay race within the framework of one World Cup for the first time in 13 years. It happened at the stage in Oberhof in Germany and really surprised the fans. Few expected that the Russians were capable of a “golden double”, but the biathletes managed to give fans a surprise and win two confident victories.

The first gold medals won by women. Evgenia Pavlova, Margarita Vasilyeva, Larisa Kuklina and Ekaterina Yurlova-Perkht finished first, half a minute ahead of the German women who took the silver. Accurate shooting helped the Russian women climb to the top of the pedestal: the girls made only eight mistakes at all and, most importantly, they did without penalty circles. Four additional patrons had to be used by Pavlova, who only the fifth passed the baton to Vasilyeva.

“I thought I didn’t recover after yesterday’s race, because for some reason I have trouble sleeping in Oberhof. But the course felt good enough. Even on the first lap at the exit from the descent I thought: I'll go first, let them run after me. It was comfortable. I wanted to go forward and before the second shooting, get up close. But the gust of wind was so strong that it was impossible to overtake the rival, only “ate” it would be. Then it would have been harder to shoot, ”said Pavlova on“ Match TV ”.

Nevertheless, on her last lap, Eugene showed a good speed and, after the race, thanked the service team for this. According to her, skis today worked perfectly.

Not without problems, the second stage of the race was formed for the Russian team: Margarita Vasilyeva tried to overtake the German woman Francis Hildebrand who fell on the way down, but she also could not keep her feet.

“It was very difficult to collect my thoughts since everyone ran away. She began to make mistakes in technical aspects, and the coaches shouted: “Easy, everything is fine, you will catch up,” said Vasilyeva after the race.

“At the shooting I calmed down and already worked fine. After the fall, I was squeezed a little by the boot of the cuff, and my leg got tired. Each time it made it difficult to push the skis. Francis came over and apologized. She said it happens, ”added the biathlete, who despite her offensive fall finished her stage in second place.

But Larisa Kuklina spent her segment of the race almost perfectly. The 28-year-old debutant of the World Cup did not allow a single slip and led the Russian team to the top.

“To be honest, worried that I could not cope with the shooting. Apparently, the coaches were counting on it, putting me on the baton, and I was afraid not to meet their expectations. But it's good that everything turned out. Probably, my condition still does not allow to run fast, I have to focus on shooting. The girls before the race did not say anything. I went to bed at half-past nine, disconnected, like a snap of my fingers. At six in the morning, as usual, got up and slept. I didn’t even dream of anything, ”admitted Kuklina.

The most experienced Russian Ekaterina Yurlova-Perkht ensured the victory of the Russian four, who worked smoothly at the shooting range (unlike the German Denise Herrman, who earned two penalty laps at the last shooting range).

“This is my dream - to finish with the flag. Today we succeeded, and I am extremely happy for the team, ”said the happy biathlete after the race.

“The girls worked just phenomenally. There were no thoughts before the race, there was simply a desire not to let the team down, to finish at the maximum, ”she added.

If for many fans, the success of the Russian women's team came as a surprise, then in the Russian Biathlon Union they admitted that they expected the girls to receive medals in Oberhof. The head of the SBR, Vladimir Drachev, noted that all the participants in the gold four "went straight along the distance," and highlighted Kuklin’s speech.

“She was not able to select the KM stages in December, but we were confident in Larisa and sent her to the training camp, where she purposefully prepared for the January stages. She even decided to participate in the Izhevsk rifle. I got here, yesterday we made a decision to put it on the baton, because we needed high-quality shooting. And we were not mistaken, ”the Championship quotes Drachev.

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"I experienced pride in the team"

The men's team after such a success of the girls could only repeat it, which they did brilliantly. Moreover, the Russian team has bypassed the second Frenchmen by more than a minute. And the Austrians, who finished third, lost to the national team for more than two minutes. Maxim Tsvetkov, Evgeny Garanichev, Dmitry Malyshko and Alexander Loginov, who got the victory, did not hesitate to admit that their teammates' success was inspired by them.

“Girls inspired with a victory. They so confidently won, inspired us. Why did you shoot well? I did not think how the others shoot. He was focused on himself, not on rivals. I just worked my installation and ran to the end, ”said Garanichev, who, like Tsvetkov, did not allow a single slip.

In turn, Dmitry Malyshko said that it helped him with a strong wind almost exactly shoot off at the firing line, while many rivals made a blunder after a miss.

"On the" rack "came up and remembered the best moments. I heard all the spectators, did not want to let them down - I squeezed the maximum. The track was wet, much harder to run. Legs drove. As shown by our guys, you can shoot without errors. I won't say that there was a strong squall wind, but at least one more doppatron still needed to be dispensed with, ”said Malyshko.

The victor of the stage in Oberhof Alexander Loginov, who added gold to the relay to the victory in the sprint, even smiled at the finish line, which happens to him infrequently.

“At least it was very pleasant to get such a solid advantage. Even with such a wind guys coped. And thanks to our girls, they charged us. Cope with the wind as they could. I was proud of the team, everyone fought to the last and was glad that everything turned out, ”Loginov concluded.