In the family of the biathlon of the Russian team Kristina Reztsova intend to raise the issue of changing her sports citizenship. The girl’s mother, three-time Olympic champion Anfisa Reztsova does not exclude that she would be better off moving to another country. The reason for such reasoning was that the athlete has not yet been given the opportunity to speak at the World Championships in Anterselva, where she arrived with the national team.
In the past, Reztsova, the eldest, had already offered her daughter to change citizenship, and then the argument was unfair, in her opinion, to the athlete from the coaching staff of the national team. In the midst of the primacy of the planet, she again reminded of this idea in a conversation with the publication "Sports day after day." However, Christina Reztsova herself in the past told her mother that she wanted to play only for her native country.
Anfisa Reztsova’s desire to send her daughter to another country does not yet seem reasonable. Given the risks that such a sharp turn in a career entails, the reasons for it should be very weighty. For example, the complete lack of prospects for getting into the Russian national team, which at one time prompted Anastasia Kuzmin to leave for Slovakia, and subsequently led to the sports migration of several other biathletes.
In the case of Kristina Reztsova, there is no reason for such a panic yet. She continues to be a member of the Russian national team, in the 2019/20 season she took part in the World Cup and joined the World Cup. For a 23-year-old athlete who is spending the first year with the national team, this is already good, and it’s premature to talk about serious career problems.
However, it should be noted that at the World Cup, Reztsova’s attention really did noticeably decrease on the part of the coaching staff. She did not perform in the mixed relay, which could still be understood, since she is definitely not one of the top two biathletes in the country. But then Reztsova did not get a chance either in the sprint or in the individual race, which automatically left her without any appearances in the pursuit and mass start. It is already known that Larisa Kuklina will perform in the single mix, and Reztsova has only a theoretical opportunity to take part in the relay race, which is unlikely to be provided to her.
Skipping Reztsova all personal racing is surprising for several reasons. Firstly, in the control training before the World Cup, she showed the second result among all Russians. Secondly, the performances of the other girls in Anterselva were not so outstanding that it was impossible to rotate at least in one position. None of the Russians were in the top ten, and in the second only Ekaterina Yurlova-Perkht was only twice. Only the performance in the pursuit race could be counted for domestic athletes, where Svetlana Mironova, Larisa Kuklina and Irina Starykh won 71 places in total, due to which they all remained in the main team, and Reztsova never got her chance.
Anfisa Reztsova argued earlier that her own harsh statements about the coaching staff could also have become a reason for ignoring her daughter. The coach of the women's team Vitaly Noritsyn, in an interview with TASS, denied this information, but admitted that the 23-year-old biathlete really should not count on getting into the team at the tournament in Anterselva.
“The four that performed in the pursuit, showed that she is able to fight for high places. Yes, I saw the words of Anfisa Anatolyevna, that her critical statements were to blame for everything, but it certainly did not matter in determining the composition. This does not affect our relationship with Christina. Will she perform at the world championship? Only in the case of force majeure, ”said Noritsyn.
Speech in Reztsova's sprint was partly prevented by circumstances and her own form. This was told by the head coach of the team Anatoly Khovantsev.
“The girls sprint was set taking into account the fact that they could qualify for a mass start. Only because of this. But the individual race Reztsova hard to run, too long a distance. In the last training session, Christina lost about 25 seconds in a short circle. Trainers know better than athletes who and where to put, ”the specialist told the Championship.
Reztsova’s performance in Anterselva was also influenced by the fact that in personal races the quota for the country is limited to four athletes instead of the usual five or six, like at the World Cup. All season Reztsova could be considered at least the fourth number in the team, but at the last moment Irina Starykh announced herself.
After the stage in Pokljuka, the 32-year-old biathlete passed the young teammate in the overall standings of the World Cup, although she spent much less races in the season. In this case, we can say that Reztsova simply lost the competition for a place in the composition, although she had the opportunity to prevent this.
And although the World Cup is essentially without Reztsova, which this season was remembered by the fans as a bright performance in the relay at the KM stage in Hochfilzen, the team still needs it. Her possible departure to another country right now would be a loss. At a minimum, it creates competition within the team and will be able to earn points for the Nations Cup after the World Cup. We must not forget that the doors to the European Championships, which will begin on February 26, are open before her. The athlete is also needed by the team as a potential successor to Yurlova-Perkht and Starykh - both can end their career after the 2022 Olympics.
At the same time, Reztsova herself needs to understand that switching to another team, if her current role does not satisfy her, will be rather difficult. Under the new rules of the International Biathlon Union, the “quarantine” reaches three years when changing citizenship, if the Russian Biathlon Union refuses to let go of an athlete whom no one has put an end to. So the words of Reztsova - the eldest about her daughter so far should be taken only as a simple reminder of the worst possible option if the career of the next promising biathlete in Russia does not work out.