The Russian Summer Biathlon Championship among athletes aged 17-18 in Ufa began with a scandal due to problems with equipment. On the eve of the individual race, which took place on Thursday, it turned out that the organizers do not have roller skis for the participants. Dmitry Zanin, a correspondent of Match TV, told about the problem in his Telegram channel, to whom the athletes themselves turned.
"Usually they bring a batch (of rollers. - RT) for competitions, and randomly issued to athletes. Which ones you got, you will run on these. And then, they say, they gathered the coaches and announced: the situation is like this - there are no rollers, you hand over all your yours to us, and we will play them between the participants, "the journalist wrote.
Biathletes were outraged by the fact that everyone has "summer skis" of different quality - someone is worse, someone is better - and according to the rules at competitions, the equipment should be the same. In addition, each athlete's rollers are sharpened in different ways, and it is simply dangerous to run on strangers: they can be led to the side, which is fraught with falls.
The Russian Biathlon Union responded to the problem quite quickly. As explained by the head of the press service Sergey Averyanov, at the venue of the competition is the vice-president of the organization Ivan Melikhov, who is trying to resolve emerging issues.
"Unfortunately, the contractor brought to Ufa rollers of such quality that it would be scary to let athletes on them on the track. For security reasons, at the general meeting of coaches, they decided to run on their own, and for those who do not have their own, the hosts of the competition are ready to provide rollers. Why this happened - we understand, "said the representative of the RBU.
He also explained that the Union does not have its own large fleet of rollers, which would be enough for all participants in the competition - they are provided only with teams for summer training. At the same time, the inventory of at least three different manufacturers is presented there, and at competitions the main idea is that everyone runs on the same.
"For this season, the manufacturer has prepared 100 couples who skated at the competitions of skiers and biathletes. As it turned out, they did not calculate, there was not enough quantity. In the absence of international starts, domestic competitions and their participants increased in the summer, by the end of September the skaters were worn out. For the youth championship, they somehow scored 60 pairs, but the coaches rejected them at the very first training session. Next, you know. And they did not make a new batch of rollers, because from next season the roller committee intends to put forward new requirements for platforms and wheels, "Averyanov wrote.
Meanwhile, in social networks, biathletes said that the first alarm bells about the quality of skis rang at the Russian Championship among athletes 15-16 years old, which was held from September 20 to 26 in Saransk. According to some testimonies, the condition of the skaters left much to be desired, but the competition was still held, albeit reluctantly.
The head of the manufacturing company "Elva-Sport" Pavel Nikulin did not agree with this interpretation. According to him, everything went well in Saransk, but according to the results of the subsequent revision, it became clear: the wear of the wheels on almost half of the copies is such that it is impossible to go to the track in them. The main reason for this situation, he called a large number of competitions among skiers, for which the company was not ready. According to the entrepreneur, realizing the problem, he immediately reported it to Ufa - the chief judge and technical delegate of the tournament, as well as Melikhov.
"I offered to bring the existing rollers, but not to train on them, but only to run the race, because during the training the athletes finally "shatter" the equipment. Initially, consent was obtained for this ... I came to Ufa with the available rollers and after that I received information that the training would be on them. The guys rode heartily to check how the equipment behaves. And as a result, the technical delegate decided that competitions would not be held on our rollers. Well, why did we come then? After all, I explained that our skaters were tired, "the Championship quotes Nikulin.
He also said that his company does not have a signed agreement with either the RBU or the FLGR - only oral agreements. And the company provides rollers for free, considering it a native advertisement for its products. And Nikulin considered the production of an additional batch in the current situation unprofitable - just because of the change in the type of inventory, which Averyanov also spoke about.
"And these 100 pairs I have in any case the last season, they go to waste. Next year there will be new ones, and not 100, but 120 pairs. Of course, I understand that this hurts the reputation of our company. Therefore, I immediately called and talked about the situation that had arisen, because I understood that I would come and screw up. I was told to come, you won't screw up. I arrived and screwed up in the end. For the safety of the athletes, it was really easier to remove the rollers from the competition. It makes no sense for us to be substituted, it hits our reputation doubly. For my part, it's easier not to give out rollers than to kill athletes, "Nikulin assured.
As a result, the situation was resolved in the only possible way that made it possible not to endanger the health of athletes: each of the biathletes went to the start on their own pair of roller skis. According to Melikhov, the organizers only had to organize an additional check at the finish line so that "unscrupulous coaches" would not mess up with the bearings.
According to the executive director of the RBU Alexander Pak, in hot pursuit, the leadership of the federation conducted an internal investigation and made the necessary conclusions. At the same time, cooperation with Elva-Sport will continue in the future. There are only two counterparties in the country supplying such equipment, and the second, Skivax, works at adult competitions.
"I hope that all those involved have learned a lesson from this unpleasant incident, and this should not happen again in the future. I am sure that, despite this puncture, Elva-Sport will continue to work with us next season. This is our long-standing, proven partner, and mistakes happen to everyone, the main thing is to draw the right conclusions. For my part, I want to once again express my gratitude to the companies "Elva-Sport" and "Skivax", which provide us with free equipment for our competitions, "the Championship quotes Pak.
How exactly the RBU plans to avoid similar incidents in the future is not specified. One way or another, roller skiing competitions are no longer planned this fall, and there is still time until next summer to think over various options.