Speed ​​limit: why in individual races at the World Championships in biathlon, the Russian Federation can count only on three people

Misses at the last frontier and a five-minute gap

The previous stage of the World Cup in Ruhpolding did not give Russian fans many reasons for joy. Domestic biathletes, although they fired well, showed an extremely weak move, which just three weeks before the world championships in Anterselva caused serious alarm.

The SBR justified themselves by the unsuccessful New Year's gathering in Obertilliach, the absence of a grinder and assured that everything can still be fixed. In this regard, the stage in Pokljuka was supposed to be a litmus test for the team, by which one can judge whether the team is able to get in shape before the start of the World Cup. At the same time, the stage began with the most difficult and energy-intensive individual races. They especially demonstrate the willingness of athletes.

Men were the first to go on a 20-kilometer distance on Thursday. And the results, unfortunately, were disappointing for the Russians. The best of domestic biathletes was Alexander Loginov, who took 16th place. Following him, the debutant Kirill Streltsov finished, not making a single miss. The rest are located in the second half of the fourth dozen with a gap of about five minutes from Johannes Boe.

Not too optimistic picture develops when looking at the statistics of the net move. In this regard, Loginov is pleased with the 13th place, but he also lost 1 minute and 20.9 seconds to the best in this component, Kenten Fillon Maya. Comparable time for one of the fastest Russian biathletes Matvey Eliseev (+1: 32.5). He, as usual, passed the first lap and then slowed down. But Eduard Latypov, Evgeny Garanichev and Nikita Porshnev lost more than two minutes and did not get into the top 35 in speed. Streltsov showed himself worse than anyone, who showed only the 59th move (+3: 20.9), but closed all 20 targets.

The partners in the national team failed to follow his example, and the last firing line again became a stumbling block. Loginov came to him without a mistake and did not immediately close two targets, Garanichev - all three. On the whole, Eliseev was the worst at shooting, who made four misses, three each for Garanichev and Porshnev, two for Loginov, one for Latypov.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the preparations for the Eliseev World Cup, to which the fans have special hopes. Before the start of the stage, the coaches admitted that they wanted to give Matvey a rest, but he refused. As a result, after the individual, Matvey stated that he still needed a pause. But later he got into the squad on Saturday mixed relay, and on Sunday he must run a mass start.

Weak running and extreme fatigue

With even greater alarm, Russian biathlon lovers were waiting for the women's individual race, because the girls in Ruhpolding had catastrophic problems with the move. For example, in the sprint, the traditionally fastest in the team Svetlana Mironova took only 61th place in this component, and Ekaterina Yurlova-Perkht, who had the flu, took 67th place. The best move with 53rd place was Kristina Reztsova.

In Pokljuka, the situation has changed for the better, although the lag of the girls with their legs is still very serious. At least Mironova managed to recover. At 15 km, she showed the 15th move (+1: 21.0) and, provided there were no misses, she could even take bronze. That's just Svetlana left seven targets unclosed at once and plainly could not explain the nature of her mistakes. It seems that the former problems with shooting again returned to the biathlete right before the World Cup.

The remaining Russians in terms of speed did not even get into the top 35 and lost to their rivals for more than two and a half minutes. Leveling such a handicap in two weeks is almost impossible. As before, veteran and team leader Yurlova-Perkht cannot come to their senses. On Friday, she lost 2 minutes and 38.9 seconds with her feet, taking 35th place.

Kristina Reztsova very quickly began the race, but then slowed down. It is no coincidence that her mother, two-time Olympic champion Anfisa Reztsova, complained in an interview with RT that her daughter was barely "rowing", and her last lap was "sunk". Nevertheless, with two penalties Reztsova Jr. managed to take 27th place.

But Irina Starykh and Larisa Kuklina, due to good shooting, rose quite high. The first one, which entered the “zero club”, completely became the eighth, although it showed only the 46th move (+2: 52.4). After the finish Irina admitted that her legs were shaking from fatigue. Kuklina finished 13th with one miss and 40th move.

Hope for three people and misses of competitors

Unfortunately, in the few days that have passed since the KM stage in Ruhpolding, there has been no sharp progress in the condition of the Russians, although it was difficult to count on it. Wards Anatoly Khovantsev is still very much inferior to the leading rivals move. The coaching staff hopes that everything will change the training camp in Ridnau, where the team will go immediately after the end of the stage in Pokljuka.

If we talk about individual races at the World Cup, it is so far clear that only three people can compete for awards in this form, subject to accurate shooting: Loginov, Eliseev and Mironova. Unfortunately, all three are experiencing problems at the borders. In addition, they should count on errors from competitors. After all, the same Loginov on Thursday, even under the condition of perfect shooting, would still not get into the top three.

The rest will rely on rewards with such a weak move. As the results of the Old Ones with Kuklina show, at best, we can talk about getting into the top 6. But with a lag of two to three minutes at a distance, even such a result will be difficult to achieve.