Plus Old, minus Glazyrina: the announced composition of the Russian biathlon team caused discontent among specialists

The new biathlon season begins with a scandal. On November 17, the Russian Biathlon Union announced the list of athletes who entered the national team and will take part in the first three stages of the World Cup and IBU Cup. Despite the fact that a month ago clear selection criteria were published, according to which the composition of the national team was to be formed, they were not met.

Most of the composition, both the first team and the reserve, was determined at training events in Tyumen. According to the results of two races, athletes scored points and determined the best among themselves. The coaching staff had the right to declare only two athletes in the base and reserve. Only five were exempted from the World Cup selection - Alexander Loginov, Evgeny Garanichev and Ekaterina Yurlova-Perkht, who proved themselves last season, and Anton Babikov and Victoria Slivko, who received a personal quota from the International Biathlon Union as winners of the IBU Cup.

Immediately after the races on November 15 and 16, fans could independently calculate which of the athletes guaranteed themselves to be in the national team. Dmitry Malyshko, Nikita Porshnev and Kirill Streltsov were supposed to get into the main men's team. However, the latter ended up in the IBU Cup. Instead of Streltsov, Matvey Eliseev and Eduard Latypov will go to the first stage of the World Cup in Ostersund, who took the following positions following the results of control starts. The reserve included Karim Khalili, Vasily Tomshin, Andrey Vyukhin, Evgeny Sidorov, Alexander Povarnitsyn and Ilnaz Mukhamedzyanov.

The absence of Streltsov in the main team can still be explained by the choice of the coaching staff - he is not as experienced as Eliseev and Latypov. But questions remain for the women's team. The first four places in the ranking were taken by Svetlana Mironova, Irina Starykh, Ekaterina Glazyrina and Kristina Reztsova. It is worth mentioning right away that Starykh and Glazyrina did not participate in centralized training and therefore could only count on a trip to the IBU Cup - such a reservation was spelled out in the selection rules.

Nevertheless, Starykh was in the composition for the World Cup, and Glazyrina was not even taken into reserve. In addition to Mironova and Reztsova, the coaches took Larisa Kuklina as the basis, who lost to Tamara Voronina in the qualifying rounds, who moved to the second team. Anastasia Goreeva, Polina Shevnina, Irina Kazakevich, Natalya Gerbulova, Anastasia Porshneva and Anastasia Egorova also went to the IBU Cup.

Glazyrina's trainer Valentina Stremousova immediately declared an unfair treatment of her ward.

“Katya is very upset now, it’s very unfair and the whole biathlon country sees this injustice. If this continues, all respect will be lost. If she takes the third place in the selection, then why doesn’t she make up the team? Why, what did she do this? ”- quotes a TASS specialist.

What happened in the team also commented on four-time Olympic champion Alexander Tikhonov. In a conversation with RT, he called for making the team building system more transparent.

“This situation with the selection for the national team is a complete disgrace. Only the fittest should go to the World Cup and IBU Cup. There should be a clear selection criterion, as before - whoever performs successfully at the Izhevsk Rifle will be in the team. But the current leadership of the RRF is doing whatever it wants. I warned about this when I stepped down as president that this will be exactly the case in the future. I would also draw attention to the inaction of the Ministry of Sports and the Russian Olympic Committee. Their money is being spent on training athletes, but disgrace is happening with the selection for the national team, ”Tikhonov said.

The Russian Biathlon Union did not find an explanation for what happened. The organization’s vice president, Alexey Nuzhdov, said he was extremely disappointed with the announced roster.

“For me, the main question is getting Irina Starykh to the World Cup. Although we recently had a Board at which we approved the selection criteria. There was a decision on two athletes personally: Starykh and Glazyrina - they were allowed to participate in races, but only for selection for the IBU Cup. This is stated in the criteria, they are published, all interested see them. Why were they violated? I can’t say anything, I wasn’t a witness, no one has yet commented on this to me. I can say that I am ashamed of such a decision. Because I am a member of the Board of the RBU, I voted for the decision, which was not binding, ”said Sports.ru Nuzhdov.

RBU President Vladimir Drachev also admitted that it was not possible to comply with the selection criteria, but called the final version of the composition correct.

“Each time, such decisions are difficult. We understand that we are dealing not only with the result and the set of points. Behind them are certain figures. This is a job for the future, taking into account the capabilities of each athlete. Not everyone may have managed to approach the selection in the best possible way. Although this was not the task. Our goal is to successfully perform at the World Cup and great at the World Cup and Europe. As for the selection, we tried to follow the criteria that were proposed by the coaching council and considered on the board of the RRF. Almost all of them were completed. There are discrepancies at some points, but in a certain position, the coaching staff and I made decisions that were voiced. I believe that this is correct, time will tell, ”the Tyumen Arena publication quotes Drachev.

Later, the RBU still reported that the announced composition is not final. According to Alexei Yermashov, member of the board of the organization, he still needs to be approved at the next meeting.

“We need to be patient, in the near future the board will approve the new composition. Now no one is going anywhere. I am not ready to comment on the situation with deviation from the criteria formed by the board. Board members are now at a loss. Request: be patient, ”Yermashov told Sport Express.

The meeting of the SBR board will take place on November 18, and based on its results, we can expect both the approval of the previously announced list and some adjustments in it. In this case, before the start of the international season in biathlon there is very little time left to change the composition of the team. The first races in the IBU Cup will take place in Shushen on November 28, and the World Cup in Ostersund will start on the 30th.