Ski race
Skier Alexander Bolshunov became even closer to a historic victory in the overall standings of the World Cup. At the stage in the Swedish Falun, it was expected that the Norwegian Johannes Hösflot Klebo would challenge him, but he broke his finger when he decided to test his strength on a slot machine with a punching bag. As a result, he did not come to the competition in Sweden, and Bolshunov took maximum advantage of this chance to increase the gap in the classification.
For starters, the Russian made a good sprint in the classic style. He confidently overcame qualifications and was unstoppable in the quarterfinals, but in the next round, the fight against Federico Pellegrino for a meaningless first line took too much strength. In the final race, Bolshunov could not maintain the pace of Paul Golberg and Eric Valnes, eventually becoming a bronze medalist.
But in the mass start, which due to too warm weather replaced the “butchering”, the Russian skier did not miss his. Although he fell at the very beginning of the 15-kilometer race, he lost a little time and calmly continued to run in the leadership group. The Norwegian skiers constantly tried to provoke Bolshunov to sharp accelerations, and he was on their minds, but he himself benefited from this - the Russian only collected extra points on the control cut-offs and did not think to get tired.
At the finish he could only deal with Schüre Röthé, and the Norwegian remained in second place. Bolshunov won the fourth distance race in a row, and his medal series already has nine starts in a row minus the sprint.
Pleased in the mass start and other Russian skiers. Ivan Yakimushkin won the second medal of the season, becoming a bronze medalist. He did not let Andrei Melnichenko and Norwegian Hans Christner Holund onto the podium, beating them in the finish spurt.
Natalia Nepryaeva in the third consecutive stage was in the prizes. Two weeks ago, she already won the classic sprint and was the favorite of a similar start in Falun. The Russian woman knew how she needed to overcome the climb in order to leave all her rivals behind, and thanks to this she made it to the finals without any problems. But there competitors already understood how to react to Nepryaeva’s accelerations. The Swedish Lynn Swan managed to stay in first place and in terms of the number of victories won before the age of 21, caught up with Elena Vyalbe and overtook Teresa Johaug. Nepryaeva held silver, literally winning a few centimeters from another hostess of the competition, Jonna Sundling.
The only start in which the Russians did not climb the podium was the women's race with a total start of 10 km. Nepryaeva kept the entire distance in the general group, but early lost the chance to get out of it and finished sixth. Jochaug won, but as easily as usual, the Norwegian was not - she was chased to the last meters by the Swedish Ebba Andersson. The World Cup leader nevertheless remained in first place and, like Bolshunov, remained unattainable in the overall standings of the World Cup.
Skating
A week before the World Cup at certain distances, skaters held the World Cup stage in Calgary on one of the fastest tracks on the planet. The first start in Canada was supersuccessful for Russian athletes. In the men's 500-meter race Ruslan Murashov, Pavel Kulizhnikov and Viktor Mushtakov occupied the entire podium. Mushtakov and Murashov after this stage led the World Cup standings.
💥 It's a 🇷🇺 1-2-3 in Men's 500m at the ISU World Cup #SpeedSkating at @theolympicoval in 🇨🇦 🔥💪
🥇 Ruslan Murashov
🥈 Pavel Kulizhnikov
🥉 Viktor Mushtakov
🔢 Live Results - https://t.co/oWEvOkqxoh
▶ ️ Live Stream - https://t.co/YZyNZOKsRSpic.twitter.com/mugxluPVhB
A few minutes later, the girls won two more medals. Olga Fatkulina, thanks to a personal record in the 1000 meter race, moved Ekaterina Shikhova from second place to third. Before the result of the winner, Nao Kodaira from Japan, the Russian woman did not have enough 0.15 seconds. Two more Russians, Daria Kachanova and Angelina Golikova, entered the top eight, with Brittany Bow, the winner of all previous 1000-meter races, located between them.
👏. @ Nao_kodaira 🇯🇵 takes 🥇 in Ladies' 1000m at the ISU World Cup # speedskating @ theolympicoval. 🇷🇺 going strong with 5⃣ out of 6⃣ medals so far 🔥
🥈 Olga Fatkulina 🇷🇺
🥉 Yekaterina Shikhova 🇷🇺
🔢 Live Results - https://t.co/oWEvOkqxoh
▶ ️ Live Stream - https://t.co/YZyNZOKsRSpic.twitter.com/yxgBF6HHvV
Denis Yuskov in the absence of almost all the strongest Dutch skaters managed to celebrate the first victory of the season. Suddenly, Chinese Nin Zhongyan rendered strong resistance to the Russian - with a personal record, he lost to Yuskov in only 0.028 seconds. The first day ended with the women's 3000m race, where Natalya Voronina showed the third result and won the second bronze for the season. Evgenia Lalenkova in the Stayer run became the fourth.
🔥💪 It's another 🥇 for 🇷🇺 ... this time in the Men's 1500m, where Denis Yuskov pips 🇨🇳's Ning Zhongyan 🥈 by just 0.02secs at the World Cup
🥉 @jrmantia 🇺🇸
🔢 Live Results - https://t.co/oWEvOkqxoh
▶ ️ Live Stream - https://t.co/YZyNZOKsRS#SpeedSkatingpic.twitter.com/mRiYMPLm1P
The medal series of Russians continued on Saturday. Kodayra and Golikova were in a pair at a distance of 500 meters and played gold and silver among themselves. The Russian woman broke the national record, but was slightly slower than the Japanese speed skater. Only the two of them managed to overcome the barrier in 37 seconds.
💥 🇯🇵's @Nao_kodaira picks up where she left off on Friday, taking 🥇 in Ladies' 500m on Day 2 of #speedskating World Cup @theolympicoval 💪👏♀️
🥈 Angelina Golikova 🇷🇺
🥉 Vanessa Herzog 🇦🇹
🔢 Live Results - https://t.co/oWEvOkqxoh
▶ ️ Live Stream - https://t.co/YZyNZOKsRSpic.twitter.com/jLbG19K5fe
In his own league, Kulizhnikov also took part in the 1000-meter race. He broke the track record for three years and beat his closest pursuers for more than half a second.
😮⏱️👏💥 🇷🇺's Pavel Kulizhnikov sets a track record 1: 06.49 at the Olympic Oval Calgary to take 🥇 in Men's 1000m on Day 2 of the #speedskating World Cup in 🇨🇦.
🥈 Thomas Krol 🇳🇱
🥉 Kjeld Nuis 🇳🇱
🔢 Live Results - https://t.co/oWEvOkqxoh
▶ ️ Live Stream - https://t.co/YZyNZOKsRSpic.twitter.com/2SvqyC2njq
In the last two starts, the Russians were left without awards, although in the women's “one and a half” there were all chances to continue the series. Lalenkova, Shikhova and Elizaveta Kazelina are located on the fourth to sixth places. At the men's 5000 meters, quite unexpectedly, Alexander Rumyantsev and Danila Semerikov performed below their capabilities - both did not even make it into the top eight, although the last time they were on the podium.
Short track
The short track stage of the World Cup in Dresden brought the Russian national team, for which Viktor An, a scattering of silver medals, has not yet played due to injury. The beginning was laid in a mixed relay, where Ekaterina Efremenkova, Semyon Elistratov, Emina Malagich and Pavel Sitnikov for the fourth consecutive time remained one step away from the victory. But in the near future, in this discipline, Russians are likely to win the overall World Cup standings - at the final stage in Dodrecht it will be enough to take sixth place.
Hurrah for Hungary! They snatch the 2000m Mixed Relay 👑 to round off today's #ShortTrack World Cup🏅races here in #Dresden 🇩🇪 🤩
🥇🇭🇺 2: 38.715
🥈🇷🇺 2: 38.789
🥉🇫🇷 2: 39.869
Full results 👉 https://t.co/zkidbp6i7J#ShortTrackSkatingpic.twitter.com/ykavIufGfe
Sofya Prosvirnova managed to show the best result for the season - she finished second at a distance of 1,500 meters, losing only to the Dutch Suzanne Schulting. Previously, the Russian athlete did not give medals in this discipline and even did not make it to the finals. A few minutes later, her success was repeated by Elistratov, who lacked only 0.037 seconds to defeat South Korean Park Ji Won.
How's this for bouncing back in style ?! 👏 Suzanne Schulting 🇳🇱 returns to the top of the podium in the #ShortTrack Ladies' 1500m - the first🥇of the day in Dresden 🇩🇪
🥇SCHULTING 🇳🇱 2: 24.845
🥈PROSVIRNOVA 🇷🇺 2: 24.865
🥉HUOT MARCHAND 🇫🇷 2: 25.045 # ShortTrackSkatingpic.twitter.com / IAdejBjkRV
Silver went to the Russian short-track players and in the men's relay. Elistratov and Sitnikov, in the company of Denis Hayrapetyan and Daniil Aybog, fought with the South Koreans to the last, but still lost at the finish. The struggle between the two teams went not only for the medals of a specific stage, but also in the overall standings. According to the results of the starts in Dresden, the Russians remained in first place, but the advantage almost melted away before the final stage.
🇰🇷 squeeze ANOTHER 🥇into their collection ... winning the Men's 5000m Relay to round off a stunning World Cup in #Dresden 🇩🇪
🥇REPUBLIC OF KOREA 🇰🇷 6: 57.341
🥈RUSSIA 🇷🇺 6: 57.523
🥉NETHERLANDS 🇳🇱 6: 57.650
Full results 👉 https://t.co/5SjWwfgVAU#ShortTrackSkatingpic.twitter.com/2cxVuX2igY
Freestyle
After a month and a half break, the Acrobatics Freestyle World Cup resumed in the American Deer Valley. For the third year in a row, this resort becomes happy for the Russian Maxim Burov. After last year’s victory at the World Cup, he climbed to first place in the World Cup for the fifth time.
To win the final, Burov performed an incredibly difficult jump with a coefficient of 5,000 - none of the rivals dared to do this. Pure performance brought the 21-year-old athlete from Yaroslavl not only another gold, but also the status of the World Cup leader - he beat the Chinese Qi Guangpu by nine points.
Together with the winner, his older brother Ilya rose to the podium. For the first time after winning bronze at the Pyeongchang Olympics, he won the World Cup medal. Burov Sr. took third place, passing ahead of the Swiss Noe Roth. For the first time, two brothers together ended up in the top three, and in a week they will have a chance to repeat this already in their homeland - on February 15, Moscow will host the World Cup.
Skiing
The skier Alexander Khoroshilov for the second time this season was in the top ten at the World Cup. The competitions in slalom in Chamonix turned out to be unpredictable - in the first attempt, the leader of the general classification Henrik Kristoffersen did not finish, but in the second his main pursuer was Alexis Penturo. There were many gatherings throughout the day, and a Russian athlete took advantage of this. Although Khoroshilov did not enter the top six in time on both routes, in the end he took just sixth place. In the slalom standings of the World Cup, he climbed to tenth place.