At the seventh stage of the Biathlon World Cup in Anterselva, Italy, the Russian team managed to win the first personal gold of the season.
The victory was won by Alexander Loginov, who became the best in the individual race thanks to impeccable shooting.
At the same time, neither a stuck sleeve on the second shooting range, nor a broken stick on the last loop prevented him from winning.
After the 6th stage of the WC, the composition of the Russian men's team has undergone certain changes.
Anton Babikov returned to service, who went to the start only once in 2021 and took 74th place in the sprint.
Igor Malinovsky tried to replace him, but he failed his chance, and the coaches again preferred a more experienced athlete.
Matvey Eliseev also came to Anterselva.
His sixth place in the last race in Oberhof inspired some optimism before moving to Italy.
However, he missed two official training sessions before the individual race and naturally ended up out of the squad.
The replacement for him was quite unexpected - the sixth quota in the team was received by 22-year-old Ilya Gavrilov.
At the last stage of the IBU Cup, even with good shooting, he did not get into the top 50 and had to return to Russia, but when moving from Arber he stayed in Anterselva to train with the main team.
So, unexpectedly for himself, he got a chance to debut in the World Cup, and even in a discipline where shooting is much more important than speed.
The rest of the four remained unchanged - Evgeny Garanichev, Eduard Latypov, Alexander Loginov and Kirill Streltsov, who had to run before all compatriots, also entered the start list.
At the first shooting range, Streltsov closed all the targets and briefly became a reference point for the opponents, but already on the stand he made two mistakes and stopped taking the leading position.
Latypov finished the fight for medals even earlier, having missed the first shooting, while his lap he ran slower than Streltsov.
But Loginov started the race successfully.
After precise work at the first line, he took the lead, and if someone managed to get around him at this stage, then only for a few seconds.
At the same time, the Norwegian Johannes Boe and the Italian Lucas Hofer lost to him for less than a minute, each having one miss.
At the second shooting, Loginov had a hitch due to a stuck sleeve, but he still closed all the targets.
Immediately after him, Bo Jr. appeared on the shooting range, who was able to approach the Russian at a distance of 1.7 seconds - the Norwegian practically won back the entire gap in the circle.
A little later, the Swede Peppe Fleming, the Frenchman Kenten Fillon Maillet and the Norwegian Vetle Shostad Christiansen passed around Loginov - he ran the first half of the distance 28 seconds faster than Loginov.
Alexander Loginov is currently in the lead after the second visit to the range but Johannes Thngnes Boe is only a second behind despite one miss in the prone!
# ANT21https: //t.co/bk5aBBso9Qpic.twitter.com/vIaSk51q0m
- IBU World Cup (@IBU_WC) January 22, 2021
But shooting accurately on that day was much more important, and the Russian athlete, whom Anterselva brought gold in the sprint a year ago, was all right at the lines.
He also went through the next lie cleanly, while Bo Jr., Fleming and Fillon Maillet worsened their time for a minute.
Loginov's closest pursuers were German Arnd Peiffer and Austrian Simon Eder, who also helped them stay in the top three with high-quality shooting.
The final shooting was of enormous importance for Loginov.
Already several times this season, he found himself without medals or let down the relay team due to misses with the last shots.
But he was finally able to pull himself together and close all the targets - for the first time since December 2019, Loginov worked perfectly on the shooting range in a race with four firing lines.
After that, he could already claim gold, but he still had to wait for the main competitors to shoot and run to the finish line himself - Loginov started the last circle with a broken stick and did not immediately receive a replacement of equipment.
All 20 targets go down for Alexander Loginov - but he breaks a pole leaving the shooting range.
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- IBU World Cup (@IBU_WC) January 22, 2021
As a result, none of the rivals could oppose anything to the Russian.
Johannes Boe made two more mistakes and could not win back his gap with a move.
Peiffer made the same number of misfires.
By that time, Eder himself was 30 seconds behind Loginov and also did not escape the penalty minute.
Christiansen still remained in the fight, only approaching the third line.
But the Norwegian did not cope and left one target open, and then made a mistake at the last line, which deprived himself of at least silver.
In the final protocol, Sturla Legrade from Norway took second place after Loginov, and Fillon Maillet won 0.1 seconds in a dispute for bronze with Hofer.
At the last moment, the Ukrainian Anton Dudchenko, who shot cleanly, tried to climb the podium, but his gap from the Frenchman was 0.3 seconds.
Perfection at the range gets the job done!
Alexander Loginov wins the @biathlonantholz Individual.
💯💪 # ANT21
🥇🇷🇺 Alexander Loginov @russianbiathlon
🥈🇳🇴 Sturla Holm Laegreid @NSSF_Biathlon
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- IBU World Cup (@IBU_WC) January 22, 2021
Of the rest of the Russians, only Garanichev was able to perform with dignity.
With two misses on the prone, he took 14th place, losing only 11 seconds to Loginov, and qualified for the mass start.
Babikov with three misfires, Latypov - with four, Streltsov and Gavrilov - with five - were left without cup points.
None of them made it to the top 40.