Finish of Belarusians with flag and anthem

At the Russian Biathlon Championships on Thursday, athletes competed for medals in mixed relay races. In the morning, quartets determined the strongest on the Tyumen track, and in the afternoon duets took on the distance.

Representatives of the Sverdlovsk region were considered the favorites in the first race. Mikhail Shashilov's wards have repeatedly won gold medals this season in this type of program, but this time they remained only fifth. The reason for this is the shooting of Irina Kazakevich. She missed four times on the first prone, went to the penalty loop and at the exit from the stadium was almost a minute behind the leader, Polina Shevnina.

However, the representative of Moscow did not last long in first position. At the stand, she was also unable to cover one target even with additional ammunition. As a result, Belarusian Anna Sola was the first to pass the baton, having received a lot of positive emotions from winning the pursuit. However, the pursuers were not too far behind - three teams were located 20 seconds away from her.

Kristina Reztsova performed her second stage superbly, also managing to win silver in the sprint in Tyumen. On the track, the representative of KhMAO-Yugra looked stronger than the Belarusian Dinara Smolskaya, who, after maternity leave, has not yet returned to her former speed. With two additional rounds, the Russian created a decent lead for her teammates - 31.2 seconds. Elizaveta Kaplina also covered the distance at a good speed: he caught up with the Belarusian at the stadium.  

However, the men's stages significantly changed the balance of power. So, Alexey Vagin failed the prone position, earning a penalty loop, and negated all Reztsova’s efforts. Dmitry Lazovsky took advantage of the situation and, even with two additional cartridges on the stand, brought his opponent 49.6 seconds when passing the relay. At the same time, Vagin still retained second place, slightly ahead of Dmitry Ivanov.

At the last stage, team leader Anton Smolsky ran for the Belarusians. And he simply could not lose the advantage created by his compatriots. He calmly finished first: with the flag and to the tune of his anthem. The organizers tried to correct the situation that happened the day before and turned on the music when the biathlete rolled into the stadium. 

“We had only a positive attitude towards this! There were thoughts: “Finally.” But we also understand that there are such regulations here, it is difficult to find out who is right and who is wrong, but today it was very pleasant. Thank you very much for the anthem!” Dinara Smolskaya said on Match TV.

And for silver a stubborn struggle unfolded between the Russians. Daniil Serokhvostov performed a miracle at a distance. He entered his stage fifth, losing more than 30 seconds to two teams of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra. However, already in the prone position, thanks to the incredible rate of fire and accuracy, the representative of the Krasnoyarsk Territory caught up with Pyotr Pashchenko and Nikita Porshnev.

Serohvostov did not force events and try to escape from them on the circle, so the trio of biathletes came to the stand together. Porshnev worked a little faster at the turn. He left the stadium with a seven-second advantage over Peter and Daniil, who, by the way, were also accurate.

This time, the pursuers were unable to quickly catch up with Nikita on the broken road. They did this only towards the middle of the circle, and on the climb they easily ran away from their opponent, which is why he was very upset.

“My condition did not allow me to fight today. Nothing to say. Thanks to the team, we did everything we could. I thought that the guys would make several penalties so that I would have an advantage. But they did great, they coped with the shooting. They take their well-deserved places. It’s a shame that they overtake me so easily, but I can’t do anything,” said Porshnev.

The showdown between Serokhvostov and Pashchenko was postponed until the stadium. Daniil chose to sit behind Nikita and jumped out from behind at the finish line. The tactics worked - he crossed the line 0.6 seconds earlier and brought his team victory in the national competition.

“When I arrived at the line, the Belarusians had already fired back. My main goal was to catch up with Porshnev and prevent Paschenko from accelerating on the third climb. I sat back and deliberately let Peter pass ahead so that he could go second on the descent and do the rest,” Serokhvostov explained his tactics.

  • Evgeniy Garanichev with his parents

  • © Russian Biathlon Union

Garanichev's first gold of the season

The mixed singles event, in which the biathletes who had rested in the morning took part, was no less exciting. The first stage was notable for the fact that the little-known Polina Plyusnina was among the leaders, along with Victoria Slivko and Anastasia Zyryanova. Tamara Derbusheva and Anastasia Batmanova, who were among the favorites, on the contrary, fell far behind.

However, Plyusnina’s partner, Yaroslav Konkin, failed to hold on to the first position. At the men's stage, Ivan Kolotov showed himself clearly. He confirmed that the 20 closed targets in the pursuit were not an accident, having again worked cleanly on the shooting ranges.

Kolotov's main pursuer was Evgeniy Garanichev, despite the penalty loop on the stand. As the biathlete later admitted, he slipped while preparing: “It knocked me down, which is why I started working quickly.”

However, none of the pursuers were able to take advantage of the mistake of the Sochi Games medalist, who announced his retirement from his sports career at the end of the Russian Championship. He calmly passed the baton to second.

Zyryanova, who replaced Kolotov on the course, seemed to sense his confidence at the shooting range and at her second stage used the additional cartridge only once. But Slivko, who performed with Garanichev, on the contrary, for some reason became nervous and could not get closer to her opponent. Moreover, on the stand she was close to going into a penalty loop. At the same time, the pursuers could not take advantage of the athletes’ misfires, as before among the men.

Kolotov went into the last stage with a comfortable advantage, but at the last stand he still couldn’t control his nerves and went into a penalty loop.

“Everything was so good when I passed the first stage. When the second one was running, thoughts appeared, everything is fine, there is a gap. Then a thought came to mind: “Even if we lose to the Tyumen team, it won’t be so offensive.” Thoughts are material,” Kolotov said on Match TV.

Garanichev, unlike his opponent, used only one additional cartridge and, due to this, managed to create an advantage of 14 seconds, which was enough for victory. 

A dramatic struggle unfolded for third place. It was led by Evgeniy Emerkhonov and Stanislav Ilinykh until the finish line. But at the turn when entering the decisive straight, the latter fell. As a result, his duet with Vladislava Gavrilova remained fourth.

The single mixed award ceremony turned out to be very warm and touching. Possibly the last gold medal in his career was presented to Garanichev by his parents, who were invited to the competition by the SBR. And journalists tried to persuade the 36-year-old athlete to stay for another year. 

“We need to end on a good note, on our native soil. I promised my family, I promised myself that this would be my last season. I don’t go back on my words,” Garanichev said.

On Saturday and Sunday, participants in the Russian Championship will start with stickers on their rifles with the inscription “Thank you.” This gratitude, of course, is addressed to Evgeniy - for his bright career in biathlon.