Golden Supermixt: How Russian Biathlonists Pavlova and Malyshko Became European Champions

Confidence Malyshko and Pavlova's penalty circle

The European Biathlon Championship, which started the day before in the Belarusian Raubichi, began for the Russians in an unfortunate way. Domestic athletes failed to win medals in individual races, although the main team arrived in Belarus. At the same time, almost all Russians made a large number of misses on the firing lines.

However, in the coaching staff did not sprinkle ashes on his head after a local failure. So, team coach Anatoly Khovantsev lamented the weather conditions that were not the most favorable for shooting.

"Strong wind. Athletes tried to withstand impulses, but still it was necessary to quickly shoot and leave. It is not known how much time can be waited for impulses ”, - quotes the specialist“ Match TV ”.

And if the failures in the individual could still be attributed to the weather, it would be much more difficult to justify weak results in the relay races before the fans, since the Russian team was one of the favorites of both the supermixst and the mixed relay.

The coaching staff was put in the first race by a duet made up of Sochi Olympic champion Dmitry Malyshko and who started the season well, Yevgenia Pavlova.

And even at the first stages of the World Cup of the new year, the athlete felt not the best way, the break should have benefited her. Although some fears among fans caused the results of an individual race, in which Pavlova took only 33rd place and made six misses. However, the Russians did not have equal rivals in this race.

Nevertheless, Pavlova started the race not very well and made two misses already at the first shooting range. Fortunately, she quickly managed to catch up with rivals. At the front of the first stage, Eugenia worked cleanly and passed the baton to Malyshko, being in the group of leaders.

Dmitry also confirmed the high class and went through his stage ideally - zero slip and first place.

At this moment it might have seemed to some that the Russian team would win a landslide victory, but at that moment the intrigue decided to return Pavlova to the race. On the bench, the biathlete failed to close the target with three additional rounds and went to the penalty loop. At a distance of Eugene returned only the sixth with a half-minute lag from the leading Norwegians.

Fortunately, the Russian woman seriously reduced the gap from her rivals to the stand and worked purely at the turn. Malyshko went to the last stage of the third with a very small lag behind Norway and France.

After lying down from the trio of leaders, Aristide Begu, who allowed three misses, “fell off”. Dmitriy left one target uncovered and set off in pursuit of the bronze medalist Endre Strömsheim. It was crowned with success, and the biathletes came to the bar together.

However, due to the experience, the Russian correctly closed against the wind behind the Norwegian who occupied the first shield and with the help of additional partons he closed all the targets. The Scandinavian "shot himself" and went immediately to the three penalty circles.

As a result, the national team put in its piggy bank a set of gold medals. Silver went to the Swedes, and bronze to the French. Norwegians were left without awards.

“Thanks to the service team, thanks to the trainers. Thanks for driving the distance. Skis worked fine. Yes, I threw the "bed", made an amendment and did not understand at all where I shot. Then it turned out that there was a wind blowing there, and all the bullets passed a little past. I had to play with my feet, ”said Pavlova after the race.

Malyshko was also pleased with the successful result and the fact that for the first time in his career he managed to win the gold of the European Championships.

“I will not say that this is a passing start. This is one of the final tournaments before the World Cup. I want to speak here with dignity. I hope, we will not be limited to one gold medal. Personally, I take these starts very seriously, ”said the athlete.

Replacing Old and Offensive Result

Unfortunately, the Russians failed to develop success in the mixed relay, although the domestic four of Victoria Slivko, Irina Starykh, Matvey Yeliseyev and Maxim Tsvetkov seriously claimed for gold.

True, at the last moment, Starykh was replaced by Svetlana Mironova due to back pain, but this was even for the better, considering the disastrous result of an experienced athlete in an individual race and, on the contrary, a good course of biathlon from Tomsk region.

However, both Slivko and Mironova again did not perform well at firing lines. Both made three misses and failed to fight for getting into the top three.

Eliseev with Tsvetkov struggled to rectify the situation. Matvey and Maxim for two did not allow a single slip at all, but even that was not enough to win the medal. The fact is that at the last stage, Tsvetkov did not cope with the speed of his rivals, and despite perfect shooting, he finished fourth in an offensive fourth place, which, of course, is not encouraging in the run-up to the World Cup.

The victory was won by the Swedes, who were ahead of the Germans and Belarusians in a bitter struggle. Moreover, the hosts of the competition were leading from the first stage and were especially close to victory after the third, when Roman Yeletnov sent Sergey Bocharnikov to the battle with a nearly 20 seconds advantage over their closest rival.

Alas, an experienced Belarusian was not able to compete in speed with the Olympic champion from Sweden Sebastian Samuelsson. At the last turn, the Swede shot accurately and ran to his golden finish. Bocharnikov made two misses and missed the German Philip Horn.